Active Archive
On the 15th May 1978, Project Arts Centre launched a progressive new exhibition simply titled, Woman’s Show. The press release cited a list of statistics on the percentage of female artist representation at the country’s most prestigious art shows, and it made for disappointing reading. Despite an average intake of between 50% and 60% of women to national art colleges, on average women formed as little as 10.5% of the artists featured at these shows, the worst being 0% at the 1977 Rosc exhibition.[1]
Organised by Helen Comerford, Woman’s Show displayed close to 40 artworks by 18 female artists. The works were selected from an open call and were selected from both established and emerging artists, including students. Among them were Jo Baer, Pauline Bewick, Deborah Brown, Mary Farl Powers, Annette Gavin, Hester Levigne Scott, Veronica Jankowsky, Anne Madden, Bernadette Madden, Fidelma Massey, Camille Souter, Pauline Steward, Joan Swift, Judy Warren and Lucy Welsh.
[1] Rosc was a series of international modern art exhibitions held throughout Dublin between 1967 and 1988.