Latin American Feminist Film and Visual Art Collectives

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Online event

Keynote Speaker: Julia Lesage, Professor Emerita University of Oregon

During the last years, there has been a revitalization of feminist movements internationally. In Latin America, the performance of ‘A Rapist in Your Path’ by the collective LasTesis on 25 November 2019 put Chilean feminism in the global spotlight. This revitalization is also pushing for political and legal reforms, such as the approval of a bill legalizing abortion in Argentina on 30 December 2020. The alliances between feminists, artists, and filmmakers in Latin America are not new. Fuelled by the 1970s women’s movement, several feminist film collectives emerged during this decade and instrumentalized cinema to raise awareness about women’s issues and intervene in political contexts. Cine Mujer in Mexico (1975-1986), Cine Mujer in Colombia (1978-1999), and Grupo Feminista Miércoles in Venezuela (1978-1988) produced films that exposed issues related to reproductive rights, sexual violence, and the status of domestic work, amongst others. Today, most of their films remain shockingly relevant yet largely unknown. Thus, this conference has two main objectives. On the one hand, it attempts to recover the history of Latin American feminist cinema. On the other hand, it looks at contemporary feminist visual art collectives. Through exploring past and present feminist artistic practices and establishing a dialogue between them, this conference attempts to provide a space of reflection on the relations between art and activism within feminist and women’s movements. What can current feminist activists, filmmakers, and artists learn from past struggles and their visual representations? How can artistic practices on women’s issues most effectively raise awareness, initiate public debates, and change situations of injustice? How can collective and collaborative artistic practices transform the world around us?