Ms Lisa Slominski
Contact
- Email: k2367732@kingston.ac.uk
- Location: Kingston School of Art, Knights Park
- Faculty: Kingston School of Art
- School: School of Creative and Cultural Industries
- Department: Department of Critical and Historical Studies
- Personal website
Research project: On the Periphery: Repositioning ‘Self-Taught' Women Artists and the Role of Cultural Intermediaries
Abstract
From Dubuffet's definition of l'Art Brut (1945) to Cardinal's ubiquitous term Outsider Art (1972), cultural intermediaries have cultivated a powerful binary through restrictive labels that have strategically defined marginalised artists in opposition to the mainstream by highlighting personal or social circumstances. The terminology evolves, but the problematic binary remains, using labels to propagate marginalisation and market a ‘systematic play of differences' (Derrida, 1982). For women in particular, their ‘extra-aesthetic identity' has been compounded by their limited social agency, at times leaning into precarious female stereotypes (Umberger, 2022).
The project will be steered by studies of Aloïse Corbaz (1886 - 1964, Switzerland), Madge Gill (1882 - 1961, England), and Sister Gertrude Morgan (1900 - 1980, USA). Detailed histories will be produced to demonstrate the repositioning from periphery to canon. Focusing on feminist theory, instead of the binary construct of cultural intermediaries, it will consider the margin as a site of radical possibility (hooks, 1990).
- Research degree: PhD
- Title of project: On the Periphery: Repositioning ‘Self-Taught' Women Artists and the Role of Cultural Intermediaries
- Research supervisor: Helen Potkin
- Other research supervisor: Dr Christopher Horrocks
Biography
I am American writer, curator and cultural producer based in East London. My work explores activations of access and inclusion in the current art discourse and examines the historical framework of underrepresented artists with a particular interest in agency. My book ‘Nonconformers: A New History of Self-Taught Artists' (Yale University Press, 2022) presents an international history of artists often identified as ‘self-taught' advocating for a nuanced understanding of art often challenged by the establishment. My articles have been published by Yale University Press, Cambridge University Press, Burnaway: Contemporary Art and Criticism from the American South, Hyperallergic and ArtUK. I have lectured for Queen Mary University of London and Christies' Education. Recent curatorial projects include ‘James Paddock: Life could be done so much better', Exeter Phoenix (2024) and ‘Jo Longhurst: Here, Now', Studio Voltaire (2023). I am a co-founder of Art et al., an inclusive curatorial platform Art et al (2020).
Areas of research interest
- Visual and Critical Studies
- Museum Representation
- Marginalised Artists and Agency
- Art History
- Women Artists
- Curatorial Studies
Qualifications
- MFA Art Practice, Goldsmiths University of London
- BA Visual and Critical Studies, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Publications
Nonconformers: A New History of Self-Taught Artists, New Haven, London: Yale University Press, 2022
‘A Pajama Party That Pauses time', Hyperallergic
‘Warm Institutional Embrace of Self-Taught Artist's', Hyperallergic
‘Artists Consider the Concept of Care', Hyperallergic
‘The Spiritual in Art is Back, Again', Hyperallergic
‘Cities in the Sky: Minnie Evans', Burnaway Volume 14, Issue 29
‘Here I Am: Agency, Audience and Awareness', Raw Vision #111
‘Rewriting and Rereading Art History', Yale University Press
‘Undoing Labels and Preconceptions of "Outsider Art" in Britain', Yale University Pres
‘Season One: for an inclusive and accessible contemporary art world', Art UK,
‘Ron's Place: The Theatre of (personal) Power', Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences Journal,Contemporary Outsider Art Section, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 24 February 2022
‘Creativity, idiosyncrasy, transposable references. / Documentation, psychology, measurement, structure', Archival study of Aloise Corbaz for COMBERS
‘These Centers Are Helping Artists with Disabilities Break into the Mainstream (and the Market)', Artsy