Curatorial Concept: Female Anxiety in Contemporary Photography

From a feminist perspective, this explores the predicaments contemporary women face under social pressure. Through photographic works, it presents women’s anxiety and unease, their resistance to social expectations, and how they seek self-identity in the interplay of gazing and being gazed at. It aims to break the stereotypes society holds about women and discuss how to express emotions through artistic creation, provoking social reflection and resonance. It records, reveals and resists those intangible pressures and anxieties through visual forms.

Micro-Curating argues the concept of “micro-curating” SVAOs, typically long-term, ongoing non-profit small-scale art institutions that can emerge within cities and everyday practices. They emphasise decentralised, flexible and participatory curation, focusing on long-neglected issues. Through micro-curating, women’s persistent anxieties are continuously and closely visible to the public, creating interactive spaces where audiences can engage in discussion and creation.
On Curating argues that curators are not administrators of objects but intermediaries between art and society; similarly, exhibitions are not containers for artworks but spaces where meaning is reproduced. Exhibitions possess artistic interactivity and participatory qualities, enabling social and cultural discussions while connecting exhibitions to urban life and local communities. Curators no longer speak solely for women but create conditions for a ‘multivocal’ space through exhibitions, making invisible female pressures and anxieties visible.
Complex Constellations explores and redefines the concepts of “centre” and “margins” within contemporary art curation, challenging fixed notions. This curatorial project regards female anxiety as a constellation of states shaped by interwoven social, cultural and visual mechanisms, presenting its complexity through a multifocal structure. Challenging traditional art world hegemony, it seeks to excavate marginalised female issues and artists.

Why choose photographic works:

As a medium highly dependent on the act of viewing, photography is intrinsically linked to gender power structures. Female anxiety often stems from being gazed upon and socially defined. Photography is both part of the problem and can serve as a mechanism for reflection.

Female anxiety rarely manifests as singular “events”, but rather persists through repetitive, mundane, and ongoing states. Photography has the capacity to capture these overlooked moments.

Curating photographic works does not seek to define female pressures and anxieties, but rather enables us to recognise the universality of these issues through the artworks, making the invisible social discipline visible.

Selection of Works:

Select representative works by female photographers, or works by male photographers addressing women’s issues.

The works should demonstrate depth and diversity, encompassing women of varying ages, ethnicities, and cultural backgrounds, thereby provoking reflection and resonance with the audience.