"Historically, the art world has been a hotbed for gender disparities: women artists are often overlooked, and few receive the support they need to advance their careers. Meanwhile, male artists – especially cis-white-male artists – have co-opted women and the female figure for decades and been applauded for it. Often, their photographs, sculptures, and paintings of women unnecessarily idealize, sexualize, and objectify their so-called muses. Three prominent examples that present women in a subservient manner include Francisco Goya’s La maja desnuda (c. 1797–1800), Édouard Manet’s Olympia (1863), and Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907).
The artists’ gaze powerfully influences an audience’s experience of their work. When men are the predominant mouthpiece for femininity in art, society’s view of women could become distorted. Alternatively, when women portray other women, they reflect a more multidimensional narrative of themselves to the world.
Today, countless women are pioneering a movement to take agency over their artistic stories. They are capturing the complexities behind the female figure and revolutionizing concepts of modern femininity. These five young, powerful, Latina artists are paving the way for this initiative..."
