Ella, Lily, Georgia and Nancy, 2001 - Nancy Honey

GIRLS explores the beauty and complexity of girlhood. How has girlhood been represented? How is it remembered? And how does the idea of ‘the girl’ continue to shape visual culture and fashion?

In Western art’s canonised history, girlhood has been framed as a fleeting phase: tender, naive, in transition. As an eternal muse, this ‘young girl’ in art history was an anonymity, a silent subject, a daughter of. She plays the piano, holds a kitten, and clasps her hands politely on her knees: her pose and paraphernalia are all suggestive of her virtue and innocence. She’s not bothering anyone, she’s just there. Art that truly centres girlhood, meanwhile, is too often dismissed as sentimental or lacking intellectual rigour. But this trivialisation overlooks the emotional, psychological and political depth that the topic can offer. Through the eyes of the artists, designers, photographers and filmmakers in this exhibition, girlhood is more than just a theme, but a way of seeing – of remembering and imagining.

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