Art Matters

On this episode of Art Matters, we speak with Katy Hessel, the woman behind the Instagram account, The Great Women Artists. We discuss how digital tools can help champion women artists, and how social platforms offer a voice to underrepresented communities. With this year marking 100 years since women began to gain voting rights in the UK, and International Women’s Day approaching on 8 March, it’s the perfect time to highlight and celebrate great, overlooked women artists. This episode's guest: Katy Hessel is the woman behind the Instagram-based blog @thegreatwomenartists. Having completed a BA in Art History at UCL in 2015, Katy began the account in October 2015 to highlight and celebrate female artists through daily posts. The women featured range from emerging artists to lesser-known women artists from the Baroque and Renaissance periods, as well as well-known female artists like Frida Kahlo. The Great Women Artists seeks to reinsert women back into the art historical narrative in an accessible way, and Katy has written this subject for numerous publications including i-D, It's Nice That, and Dazed. In November 2017, Katy curated her first exhibition, ‘The Great Women Artists: Women on Instagram’ at Mother London, showcasing a range of women artists who use Instagram as a platform for their artistic careers. Katy lives and works in London. Images: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/in-spinster-salts-collection-231094 https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/self-portrait-in-a-straw-hat-115310 https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/cane-river-cotton-gin-40920

We speak with curator Bee Tajudeen and artist Rosa Uddoh about what #blackgirlmagic means and what it means to be a black woman working in art.

Take a mental journey to the moon with this discussion on how our lunar companion has influenced artists across centuries.

We speak with Katy Barrett, Curator of Art Collections at the Science Museum, London, about how the Science Museum Group incorporates art into its collection and exhibitions. https://artuk.org/discover/stories/art-matters-podcast-art-in-the-science-museum

We dive into the story of vaginas and vulvas in art with the help of Sarah Creed, curator of the newly-opened Vagina Museum in London.