Potent Female

One final post on the theme of British museums and collections. This time it’s from the Tate Modern that’s running an exhibition entitled Women in Revolt! It covers Art and Activism from 1970 to 1990 and based on the reviews, seems well worth a visit.

Unfortunately, the part most relevant for this blog has already been and gone. Earlier this month they ran a panel titled ‘Let’s talk about the Erotic Self‘, covering topics like ‘power dynamics, authorship, and the commodification of pleasure.’

The image was the cover image for the panel. It’s by Jill Westwood and titled ‘Potent Female.’ According to this Guardian article it was based on the famous painting by Whistler of his mother.

Westwood had first started making wearable latex sculptures as an art student and later explored the transgressive power of “dom” personas and London’s rubber fetish scene. This photo mimics the pose of James McNeill Whistler’s painting Whistler’s Mother, and was staged at home, which was “a shared short-life housing co-op with other artists”, she explains.