Hidden (Hi)stories: New Perspectives of Women’s Photographies

In May 2024, MOMus-Thessaloniki Museum of Photography organised the Greek edition of Fast Forward: Women in Photography in partnership with the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) and the University of Sunderland.

The theme for the fifth conference focused on the hidden (hi)stories of women’s photographies seeking to reflect on current debates on gender justice.

Writing about the recognition of ‘women’ as a political subject and questioning who has the power to define what ‘women’ means, Silvia Federici urged: “We must identify the world of antagonistic politics and power relations by which our bodies are constituted and rethink the struggles that have taken place in opposition to the ‘norm’ if we are to devise strategies for change” (2020: 10). And indeed, as Françoise Vergès argued, if we are to “re-humanise the world” and fight against the ways “femonationalism” and “femoimperialism” service neoliberalism (2021:17), we need to move beyond mainstream narratives and normative histories, beyond relational notions of centres and peripheries and bring to the fore the hidden stories of anonymous women, those identifying as women and non-binary people told by and through photography.

The conference aimed to explore the following questions and beyond:

>> How can photography demystify the socio-culturally constructed notion of ‘women’ and advocate its expansion to include transgender, gender-fluid and non-binary/non-conforming identities?

>>  How can we understand women’s photographies considering the often oppositional diversities of prescriptive identities, socially constructed performances of gender and reproductive labour, racialisation, enslavement, and colonisation in different social contexts and historical periods?

>>  In what ways may photography become a weapon for equality, reproductive justice, deracialisation, and freedom for women, those identifying as women and non-binary people against the oppressive power of heteronormative patriarchy, the state, and capitalism?

>> What are the (hi)stories of women in front and behind the camera that are silenced or disregarded from normative art histories and institutions? What are the fundamental barriers in such systems and how may women’s practices be included in multiple narratives rather than being confined to gendered interpretations?

>> How has the “performative turn” affected the curatorial practices of exhibiting women’s photographies and how have their unknown (hi)stories been represented in museums?

>> What would just and inclusive histories of women’s photography look like from a transnational, decolonial perspective?

Organising Committee / Convenors:
Professor Anna Fox (Fast Forward, University for the Creative Arts)

Maria Kapajeva (Fast Forward, University for the Creative Arts & Estonian Academy of Arts)

Dr Iro Katsaridou (MOMus-Thessaloniki Museum of Photography & Hellenic Open University)

Dr Areti Leopoulou (MOMus-Thessaloniki Museum of Photography)

Professor Alexandra Moschovi (University of Sunderland)

Dr Penelope Petsini (University of West Attica & Panteion University)

The PDF of the full programme is here