London-based American filmmaker Susan Steinberg profiles 10 women artists in this enlightening documentary divided into three parts, according to age. Although two of the artists, Nermine Hammam and Maliheh Afnan, hail from the Middle East, all are based in the United Kingdom. In addition to their interviews, Steinberg captures the women at work. Some incorporate their own bodies into pieces, like sculptor Alice Anderson, who puts her dance experience to use in her performance art, which involves wrapping objects with copper wire (which reflects her red hair). "My language," she says, "is the body." She also stars in short films with dolls formed in her image. Sculptor Jodie Carey uses blood as a dye, although she doesn't say how she procures it. She also soaks newspaper in tea and coffee in order to form autumnal flowers. Sarah Lederman's body serves as a model for her paintings, which feature a fair amount of nudity. Some of the women also talk about children, whether they have them or not. Charlotte Hodes switched from drawing to collage and ceramics when she had kids, whereas Susan Collins, who runs an art school, doesn't think she could have found a way to reconcile her work with being a mother. Hammam, who hails from Cairo, makes the most explicitly political work, digitally situating subjects from recent news stories into stylized settings. Other artists work in calligraphy (Afnan) and steel (Almuth Tebbenhoff). Along the way, connections become evident, such as the way that Carey and Afnan explore the passage of time, even though they are four decades apart in age. An interesting profile of contemporary women artists, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)
Mirrors to Windows: The Artist as Woman
(2015) 76 min. DVD: $30 ($125 w/PPR): public libraries; $295 w/PPR: colleges & universities. DRA. Collective Eye Films. Closed captioned. Volume 33, Issue 2
Mirrors to Windows: The Artist as Woman
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