We Are Not Alone.

Ecofeminist Theory in Contemporary Art Analysis

Precious Okoyomon, "To See The Earth Before the End of the World," 2022. Installation view, the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, "The Milk of Dreams," 2022. Courtesy of the artist and Quinn Harrelson Gallery. Photograph by Clelia Cadamuro; https://topicalcream.org/features/decay-is-everywhere-precious-okoyomon-in-conversation-with-elvia-wilk/ [29/05/2023].

30 June 2023

Abstract

Ecological distress, environmental exploitation and the economic consequences of human behaviour on earth urge artists to engage and suggest alternative ways of interacting with the earth. The following essay refers to ecofeminist research introduced by Vandana Shiva, Karren J. Warren and Donna Haraway while aligning strands in contemporary art, deploying a broader understanding of environmental responsibility. Works of artists such as Åsa Sonjasdotter, Allison Janea Hamilton and Patricia Piccinini will be examined to develop overarching principles allowing speaking of an ecofeminist network and progressing towards Haraway's Chthulucene.

The Ecofeminist Lens

From a feminist perspective, we have seen an escalation of attacks on reproductive rights and health worldwide, a cross-border crisis of femicide, and continuing worldwide subordination of all women's bodies and power (cis and trans). These current forms of gendered domination strikingly resemble what d'Eaubonne denounced in 1974.

More specifically, from an ecologically feminist perspective, we know that women, especially Indigenous women and those from the global south, are disproportionately impacted by climate change. Women of colour and trans and gender non-conforming people are also unequally affected in the global north. The transnational Women and Feminists for Climate Justice movement shows us that these women are, as movement activists put it, not victims of climate change but its targets. (Gorecki, 2022)

The urgency of ecological awareness and the need to take action is not a new realisation. Since the 1960s, environmental activism has been a frequent strand in social and artistic endeavours worldwide. Yet, the connection between the concept of ecofeminism, coined by Francoise d'Eaubonne in the 1970s, and environmental art practice has rarely been investigated. Drawing upon ecofeminist theory by Vandana Shiva, Karren J. Warren and Donna Haraway, this essay will examine how the ecofeminist concept can serve as a valuable tool to understand complex environmentally inclined contemporary art practices in an extended sense. Artists such as Åsa Sonjasdotter, Allison Janea Hamilton and Patricia Piccinini have very different ideas and approaches to artistically interacting with the environment, longing from plant breeding over mysticism to surrealist hybrid creatures. However, ecofeminism allows aligning these artistic expressions by means of their intrinsic motivation to harmonise the relationship between humans and non-humans.

Ecofeminist theory, as outlined by Karren J. Warren, can be understood as an "analyses of the twin dominations of women and nature [which] include considerations of the domination of people of colour, children, and the underclass" (Warren, 1994, p. 1). More precisely, Warren declares ecofeminism as a commitment to eliminating societal patriarchal structures and producing alternative and non-essentialist ways of human and non-human existence. This concept, also extensively explored by Vandana Shiva and Maria Mies, has its foundations in early examples of grassroots environmental activism, such as the Indian Chipko movement, the Green Belt movement in Kenya founded by Wangari Maathai, the Sahabal Alain Malaysia & the Consumer Association of Penang, the Sarawak tribal blockades and the Acao Democratica Feminina Gaucha (ADFG) in Brazil (Mies and Shiva, 1993, pp. 87–88).  

Applying the ecofeminist concept to contemporary art practice opens the possibility of juxtaposing various artistic methods, mediums and contexts. However, due to the scope of this essay, the following investigation will be categorised by an agricultural, a colonial and an interspecies/" othering" focus. These categories are a drastically simplified version of the vast complexity of contemporary art practice that can be analysed through an ecofeminist lens and do not, in any case, plead for completeness. Instead, the following examinations attempt to exemplify the possibilities of alignment between visually, culturally or periodically different artists and practices using ecofeminist ideas and to explore the relevance of ecofeminist concepts today.

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