Kelsey Dickinson in Conversation with ‘Here are The Women Artists’ Co-Founder, Liezel Strauss
Despite the prevalence of gender equality and diversity talks in the art world today, female representation and presence in both public art institutions and on the commercial market are still shamefully scarce. ‘Here are The Women Artists’ is a free-market directory dedicated to providing recognition and easy access to all female identifying artists by providing the answer to the question, ‘where are all the women artists?’
MADE IN BED contributor, Kelsey Dickinson, interviewed the co-founder of the Here are The Women Artists database and ArtGirlRising, Liezel Strauss about her new database and the lack of representation of women artists in the art world. Through creating a comprehensive database that caters specifically to the showcase and support of contemporary and emerging female artists, Liezel and her business partner Sam Roberts, seek to remove the high barriers to entry and highlight a community of otherwise marginalized voices.
Logo of the ‘Here are The Women Artists’ database.
Kelsey Dickinson: Can you please tell us more about the Here are The Women Artists database and how this idea came to be?
Liezel Strauss: During lockdown, the idea for a database sparked after a conversation with my husband where we reminisced about a tech project from 2005. It was the combination of anger about women not being visible, being stuck at home, and the strong belief I have that if something bothers you and you have the capabilities and privilege to do something about it, you should.
Through my other project, ArtGirlRising, we have been asking ‘Where are the women artists?’ to friends, colleagues, galleries, and museums for years. The database was born more out of that frustration than anticipation [of] a project. I just could not get my head around the fact that every exhibition or art event I visited had a shocking low percentage of art made by women, even now. The database was a natural next step.
You may recognize ArtGirlRising from their infamous T-shirts. Artwork by Nicole O’Loughlin, The Artist Mother is Present, Watercolour, ink and gouache on paper, 90 x 90cm, 2018.
KD: How long have you been working on this idea? Has the project gone through different iterations over the course of development?
LS: During lockdown in June last year, I told my friend Sam, a web developer, about the idea and asked if she would be interested in working on the project with me. The name changed and the concept evolved a little, it was the start of [the] Where Are the Women Artists? database and directory.
Sam created the WATWA website in its entirety, she is the co-founder and CTO and keeps me grounded when I float; she always reminds me it is a work in progress.
Our initial plan was to launch the artist database and the directory at the same time. We are both mums with unpredicted home-schooling - don’t even ask - and other work and endless invisible labour. So instead of killing ourselves to get it all done, we took a step back and decided to launch the artist side of the database first. We feel a huge responsibility to stand for and serve the artists in the best possible way through the database and directory.
However, we additionally plan to launch a pro directory for dealers and art world professionals, which will be ready soon.
KD: After launching the Pro Database, what are your strategies for becoming the natural choice when these professionals are searching for new artists?
LS: Our first focus is to serve the artists and continue to refine how their work and biography is represented.
Our second priority will be to launch the Pro database. We plan to create an ecosystem where people can find each other and connect in a positive way; with this will come marketing to museums and galleries and commissioning research.
Too much emphasis is placed on the ‘natural choice’ or that you must be the best, or the biggest to be relevant, but I do not subscribe to that. I believe that if we want to make lasting change it is going to take a lot of us and a lot of initiatives to move the dial. We hope that our project will fit within this, and we will be part of a movement of working together. We are staying openminded about the connection between artists and art world professionals and what our role is within that. We will learn from each other, and this project will evolve the more input we get.
KD: Are you also targeting collectors, who want to buy directly from the artists or is the database more specifically targeted to art world professionals for roster-building?
LS: The main purpose of this database is to open the art world and general public’s eye to the incredible talent out there and to raise awareness about the underrepresentation of women artists. We are a registered Community Interest Company, so profit is not our goal. We are more focused on supporting women artists first. Women artists need to be collected more, that is for sure, and we are looking at partnerships with galleries.
Liezel's experience of raising awareness of the underrepresentation of women artists through ArtGirlRising led her to the idea of launching the Here Are the Womens Artists Database. Instagram Post from @artgirlrising, March 30 2021.
KD: On your website you mention increasing gender parity through public art and partnerships. What partnerships or other projects are you hoping to come out of this project?
LS: As our key goal is to raise awareness about the underrepresentation and increase visibility of women artists, we believe the most effective way of addressing that misconception is through public art projects. The art world itself is waking up to this, but the general public mostly thinks the art world is very progressive and inclusive. HA! Do we have news for them.
We are currently in conversation with a London-based public art facilitator about a project in the UK. We are also already in Partnership with All She Makes in the US and Repaint History in Canada as well as Subject Matter in the UK.
We believe that we can only bring lasting change and shift the numbers if all of us, who do this work, come together and join forces, so we are hoping to form partnerships with other women in this space doing similar work.
KD: The layout of the homepage of the website is incredibly unique for a database in that it is so visual, and you see a snapshot of the artist's work before anything else. What led to this unique format? Is there a strategy involved?
LS: Yes, we had the idea for the tiled/mosaic homepage from the start. Our project is about showing the world ‘Here are the women artists’, so instead of just saying it, we decided to show it. And then of course, just before we launched Beeple sold an NFT artwork that looks remarkably similar to our page. It was a timely synchronicity, showing the dawn of so many new developments and changes in the art world.
Here Are The Women Artists homepage, featuring a unique collage of works that users can scroll over.
KD: There has been a massive shift to online outlets in the art market due to the pandemic, do you think that presents a unique advantage to Here Are The Women Artists?
LS: Do not get me started, I was on a panel discussion on this exact topic at Sotheby’s in 2016 or 2017 with Georgina Adam, oh how things have changed! I could not be happier. I co-founded one of the first online art galleries, Subject Matter, in 2011. Trust me, until very recently having an art gallery that is only online, placed you in the ‘not welcome’ section of the art world.
We have been waiting for this change for years. It is sad that it took a pandemic but it is indicative of the stubbornness of the art world - unless the art world is on its knees it will not change. The art world serves such a small number of people, these old structures, hierarchies, and opaque nature of how business is done needs to change - I am so grateful that the online landscape is facilitating a more accessible and inclusive art world.
And yes, it has an advantage for the WATWA but to be honest we are not trying to be accepted by the art world or art market. We welcome ALL women artists; it is not a curated space. This is disorienting for the art market, and I suspect it will not sit right with some of our peers. However, this project is about scale and inclusion - not about facilitating the art market or art world comfort. Particularly when that comfort comes at the expense of excluding half of the population.
KD: Do you see online search engines and databases like this one replacing the need for art fairs or other outlets for discovering new artists in the future?
LS: I don’t know. I don’t think replacement of old systems are necessary, I think welcoming new systems and creating new ways of curating is the way towards inclusion and creating an art world that is for everyone. I love that you ask this question because it means this is a possibility, but I think it will take a very long time to rewrite this.
The goal of the database and directory is to increase the visibility of all female identifying artists, answering the question, “Where are the women artists?”
KD: The mission of equal representation is so important - What is your long–term vision for the role of this database? What impact do you hope it will make on the market?
LS: The vision is to have hundreds of thousands of women artists visible. We are not suggesting that museums and galleries do not know that there are incredibly talented women artists out there, but they are running out of excuses. Women artists should take up 50% of the wall space, especially in museums.
Our vision is also to co-create a union or consortium that brings about change at institutional level. We have been working on a project called Fair Art with a few partners but then the pandemic happened. We are finally picking that up again and hope to put it into the world soon.
With our projects and this database and directory, we hope the impact on the art world will be significant and lasting. We are building on the work of women artists, who came before us. There are women, who have been doing this work for decades. We will never stop looking at their work and activism for guidance and inspiration, and we realise we are just this generation, and we will someday pass the baton for future generations to build on.
Thank you, Liezel!
Image courtesy of Here Are the Women Artists and ArtGirlRising.
Visit the Where are The Women Artists Database and follow ArtGirlRising, Liezel’s overarching project.
Kelsey Dickinson
Contributor, MADE IN BED