Barbara Yoshida: “100 Portraits: Women Artists”
Salena Gallery, LIU Brooklyn, 1 University Plaza, Brooklyn NY
March 3 – 27, 2015
New York City-based photographer Barbara Yoshida undertook a photography project to document and pay tribute to dozens of contemporary women artists around the world, culminating in the collection, “100 Portraits: Women Artists,” on view now at the Salena Gallery at LIU Brooklyn. She created portraits of every kind of artist, from feminist sculptors to traditional textile artisans, but the main theme of the show is the women who are breaking boundaries to be able to express themselves how they want. Through their creations, these women are giving light to ideas that are both aesthetically significant as well as politically meaningful.
Yoshida began in 1990 by photographing people she knew; friends and colleagues. She initially felt the need to photograph the older generation of women artists, women like Louise Bourgeois, who she felt needed to be documented and remembered before that era was gone. Yoshida since became a member of the Women’s Action Coalition, which protested women’s exclusion from major museums and galleries, including the SoHo Guggenheim. After this, it was easier for her to connect with the current and new generation of women artists and begin to document them too. In a radical move, Yoshida extended her participants final approval of all published images, thereby including them in the artistic process. All photos were done at the artist’s own studio or home, using natural light, and many include pieces of the artist’s work as well.
Not only do the portraits include white women of celebrity, but they also feature women from far corners of the globe, some keeping their art-making technique alive from generation to generation. In this way, the work is about community. Women all around the world are united in their shared passion for creativity and expression.
