Marion Adnams: a Singular Woman, a Retrospective
- Submitting institution
-
University of Derby
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 770925-1
- Type
- T - Other
- DOI
-
-
- Location
- -
- Brief description of type
- Multi-Component Body of Work
- Open access status
- -
- Month
- -
- Year
- 2020
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
0
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- The Marion Adnams Project explores how a female artist’s work can be re-integrated into national art history and be evaluated in relation to critical paradigms and artistic practices. The focus on Marion Adnams highlights the ways in which such individual histories become lost within the privileging of particular artists’ work. Such assumptions can be interrogated in terms of gender and representation as well as in the relationship between local and national identities.
A feminist curatorial process requires that equality of representation is a fundamental concern. The act of feminist curation here is considered in terms of potential and intended outcomes, the curator’s relationship to the artwork and the boundaries established in terms of their understanding of the artist and how this relationship is negotiated within the development of the exhibition. The artist’s work and life are considered in terms of their contribution to the field and their specific context within history in order to comprehend and contextualise the artwork in terms of other existing practices. The other significant aspect of the project is accessibility for audiences of Adnams’ artwork. It is important to enable public engagement with, and acknowledgement of, the artist’s significance. The project began with the Marion Adnams Retrospective exhibition, which highlighted the need for an analysis of her work. The retrospective also enabled further interest in Adnams, leading to her inclusion in a national retrospective on British Surrealism. A symposium was organised to further analyse definitions and the role in history of regarding Adnams and her peers. Further research has reflected on and critically evaluated the role of the curator and has also been explored through a video piece exhibited at the retrospective. The project has contributed to both local and national recognition of Adnams and inspired the formation of an interdisciplinary Arts research group entitled Spaces/Places.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
