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16 Days of Activism Book List 2024

By 24th November 2024December 10th, 2024No Comments

Books shown in image, clockwise: Eugenia Maximova Silent River, Laia Abril On Rape, Donna Ferrato Holy, Poloumi Basu Centralia

Jenny Holzer
Lustmord

Publication & Purchase Info 

  • Year of Publication: 1996
  • Publisher: Cantz Verlag (now Hatje Cantz)
  • ISBN: 978-3-8932-2895-9
  • RRP: £22.95 (showing ‘permanently out of stock’ on the publisher’s website, but there are second-hand copies available)

Day 16: Jenny Holzer

I am awake in the place where women die

Jenny Holzer is renowned for her texts, particularly her list of truisms – short, pithy reflections on the world. Reflecting the essence of the slogan, her words have been printed as lists and on clothing, postcards, plaques as well as appearing on digital billboards, projected onto buildings and displayed in museums and galleries as installations.

Lustmord (Eng: sexually motivated murder) is a collection of photographs, objects and essays from the 1996 exhibition of the same name (held at the Kunstmuseum, Canton Thurgau).  The work was originally commissioned in 1993 as a series for the Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin to highlight the way rape and gang-rape of women and girls became a horrific strategy in the Bosnian war (1992-1995).

Jenny wrote three poems exploring rape from three different points of view – the perpetrator, the victim and the observer.  Lines of these texts were inked onto people’s skin and Jenny photographed them. The installation also included LED texts and a Lustmord table displaying (ethically sourced) bones wearing silver bracelets engraved with the texts.

The work was not without controversy. The newspaper used human blood (treated so that it would be compatible with the printing presses) to print the text ‘I am awake in the place where women die’. The blood was donated by women, many of whom had survived being raped.   As Jenny says in the book: “It’s a shame that we couldn’t bleed the commanders and the soldiers who were involved’ (interview, p. 123).

Although the book is in German, there is an English translation at the back.

Hannah Kozak
He Threw the Last Punch too Hard

Publication & Purchase Info 

  • Year of Publication: 2020
  • Publisher: Fotoevidence
  • ISBN: 978-1-7324711-5-3
  • RRP: £50
  • Order directly from the artist 

Day 15: Hannah Kozak

I didn’t choose domestic violence. It chose me.

When Hannah was nine (1973), her mother left her and the family for another man, who abused her to the point that his last attack caused severe brain damage necessitating her mother moving into an assisted living facility, where she lived until her death in 2022.

In this deeply moving book, Hannah Kozak reveals a complex voyage of anger, self-discovery, guilt and compassion culminating in reconnecting with her mother after a 30-year estrangement. She used photography to begin the healing process – both her own and that of their relationship.

The book shows Hannah’s journey through different series of images: a family album from the 1970s (where the new man scarily altered photos of her mother to portray her  was the “perfect woman”); self-portraits of the artist and images of her mother and her mother’s possessions in the facility.

Hannah wants these images to show her mother as a symbol of perseverance and the reader can certainly empathise with this, but as an outsider, the reader also undergoes a massive roller-coaster of other emotions, particularly anger towards the stepfather.

 

Laia Abril
On Rape

Publication & Purchase Info 

Day 14: Laia Abril

I wanted to try to understand why the structures of justice and law enforcement were not only failing survivors, but actually encouraging perpetrators by preserving particular power dynamics and social norms.

Laia Abril is a multi-disciplinary artist who combines her photography with archival material, testimonies and research to explore the complexities of issues around women’s trauma. Her ground-breaking trilogy A History of Misogyny, a series of visual research on the systemic control of women, reconsiders the way the patriarchal society frames issues of abortion, rape and hysteria. Focusing her attention on the institutions which refuse to acknowledge the woman as victim, Laia presents images of clothing and objects that build a picture of the constant battle to be heard.

Rejecting the flagrant victim-blaming so plainly evidenced by On Rape’s compilations, Laia focuses the narrative on institutions – the police, education, the justice system – allowing her to visualise the origin of, and catalyst behind, the gender-based stereotypes and failing social structures which perpetuate rape culture.

Read our review of On Rape here

Sanja Iveković
Sweet Violence

Publication & Purchase Info 

  • Year of Publication: 2011
  • Publisher: Museum of Modern Art
  • ISBN: 9 780870708114
  • RRP: $50

Day 13: Sanja Iveković

… a gesture of disobedience toward the communist regime that treated feminism as a bourgeois import from the West (Sanja on describing herself as a feminist).

Sanja Iveković, a Croatian artist, has been a significant figure in the feminist and activist art scene since the 1970s. Her work often blends personal experiences with broader political and historical contexts, exploring themes of gender, identity, and power dynamics.

One of the key themes in Iveković’s work is the manipulation of media and the construction of dominant narratives. She often appropriates and reworks mass media images to expose underlying power structures and challenge societal norms.

This catalogue, produced for the 2011 exhibition of the same name at MoMA, takes the reader on a journey through her oeuvre from her early work around the relationship between mass media and ideology. Her later projects reflect the transition of Balkan countries from socialist to capitalist systems and the impact of war and male violence.

The works show her commitment to social and political issues, particularly women’s rights and the challenges faced by women. She often draws on her own experiences and family history, intertwining them with broader historical events.

Through her art, Sanja aims to provoke thought, challenge the status quo, and encourage social change.

Eugenia Maximova
Silent River

Publication & Purchase Info 

  • Year of Publication: 2023
  • Publisher: Edition Fotohof
  • ISBN: 978-3-200-07985-4
  • RRP: €39.00

Day 12: Eugenia Maximova

… her murder can’t have been politically motivated because she wasn’t a real journalist, she was just a pretty presenter so it must have been  a sex crime, beautiful women will always be objects of desire, so it’s their own fault if they get raped. (Dinev summarising the response to the murder)

Her series Silent River (2023), is a departure from her normal oeuvre and derived from the murder of her sister-in-law.  It shows the power of the press in influencing opinion by the way it reproduces the patriarchal narrative.

In this deeply personal series, Eugenia Maximova retraces the route her sister-in-law, Victoria Marinova, followed on the day she was brutally raped and murdered in Ruse, Bulgaria.  Victoria was a TV journalist, who produced a series Detector in which she revealed some ‘shocking revelations about corruption and the embezzlement of funds in the EU’ (Dinev, 2023). Initially, there was outrage in the media over her murder as journalists united to allege that Marinova had been a victim of state violence because of the programme.  Within 48 hours, Severin, a Rom, had been arrested, the authorities deemed her murder to be a “tragic coincidence” and the media then turned their attention to the victim, denigrating Marinova and shifting the blame onto her and away from the state.

Set against a portrayal of her own overwhelming grief, Eugenia’s work questions this silence and challenges media representation of violent crimes.

 Silent River won the 2023 inaugural Austrian Photobook prize.

Dana Popa
Not Natasha

Publication & Purchase Info

  • Year of Publication: 2009
  • Publisher: Autograph
  • ISBN: 978-1899282081
  • RRP: Second-hand available from c.£15

Day 11 : Dana Popa

Natasha is a nickname given to prostitutes with Eastern European looks. Sex-trafficked girls hate it.

Dana Popa is a Romanian documentary photographer based in the UK. Her focus is on human rights issues in Eastern Europe and the UK. In the work Not Natasha, Dana travelled to Moldova to collect stories and photographs of sex-trafficked women.

Their harrowing stories are told in text, delicate portraits and details of rooms or possessions. They speak of the families left behind, the need to keep going for the babies born from this passive violence and children waiting for their mothers to return.

Renate Bertlmann
Fragile Obsessions

Publication & Purchase Info 

  • Year of Publication: 2023
  • Publisher: Walther & Franz König
  • ISBN: 978-3-7533-0558-5
  • RRP: £28

Day 10: Renate Bertlmann

Bertlmann’s art insistently addresses the physical and emotional violence perpetrated on women by patriarchy (Patricia Allmer, p. 52).

Fragile Obsessions is the catalogue that accompanied the major 2023 retrospective exhibition, at Belvedere 21, and is a comprehensive guide to Renate’s work since 1968.

Her oeuvre challenges the patriarchal ideology that upholds the male fantasy of violence and rape. She employs humour and irony to deconstruct patriarchy and ‘phallocracy’. “My main interest became the phenomenon of male abuse of power; power as disinhibiting aphrodisiac, especially within the realm of sexuality. I did not resolve my anxiety about male sexual violence by joining the call by militant feminists to ‘cut off their balls’. I thought it was more directional and also more subversive to look ironically and in a cartoonish manner – akin to a guided laser – at the phallus in order to disarm it.”

Fragile Obsessions offers a visual compendium of her work, installation views, an interview with Renate and a number of essays.

Anna Fox
My Mother’s Cupboards and My Father’s Words

Publication & Purchase Info – Now out of print, but there are second-hand copies available

  • Year of Publication: 2000 (second edition 2020)
  • Publisher: Shoreditch Biennale
  • ISBN: 0 953319 93 8
  • RRP: First editions are now commanding £145

Day 9 : Anna Fox

I’m going to tear your mother to shreds with an oyster knife

My Mothers Cupboards and My Fathers Words comprises images of meticulously organised shelves containing bed linen, chinaware and cleaning supplies, juxtaposed with text in the form of a man ranting at the female members of the household, this book is a shocking portrayal of violence within the domestic sphere, that often goes unreported.

It is an autobiographical project that Anna undertook when her father was ill for many years, “inspired to make work close to home, challenging the notion of the documentary photographer as outsider”. She kept a notebook recording his outbursts mainly directed at the female members of his family. Words like Im going to tear your mother to shreds with an oyster knife” and “she’s got hands like gorilla’s claws” are just some of the vitriolic things said by Anna’s father. The neatness of the cupboards when viewed against the hurtful words are indicative of the claustrophobic nature of the relationship. It feels like the women are compulsively working to blank out the hate.

Kristine Potter
Dark Waters

Publication & Purchase Info

  • Year of Publication: 2023
  • Co-Publishers: Aperture – The Momentary – Images Vevey
  • ISBN: 978-1597115568
  • RRP: £50.00

Day 8 : Kristine Potter

She fell down on her bended knees, For mercy she did cry. “Oh Willy dear, don’t kill me here, I’m unprepared to die!

This multi-layered volume of haunting black and white images is a reimaging of murders that took place in the Gothic South as conveyed through the songs of 19th and 20th century murder ballads. The book shows the lyrics of the ballads (with the violent parts crossed out but readable) juxtaposed against landscapes of places where these murders might have taken place (with names such as “Poison Cove” and “Blood Creek”) interspersed with portraits of women, depicting the victims; men, depicting the perpetrators. After all, it was the women that met the tragic end after their “lovers” decided to poison, drown or shoot them.  A further layer is added by the fictional text by Rebecca Bengal.  Although the individual images are not disturbing, when everything is taken together it leaves the reader with a feeling of disquiet about the omnipresence of the threat to women.

ALERT

Some viewers may find the image on the cover of this book distressing.  To see the image, click here.

Ann Christine Woehrl
In/visible

Publication & Purchase Info

Day 7 : Ann Christine Woehrl

He turned out to be a sadistic psychopath. He physically, mentally and sexually tortured me. He treated me like a prostitute.

In/Visible is a collection of 48 portraits of 48 women who have survived acid attacks or immolation.  Most of the attacks were carried out by men, but some were carried out by women – there are cases of women harming themselves or being attacked by mothers-in-law or jealous wives to avoid bringing shame on the family. The underlying cause is the same as other acts of gender-based violence – a patriarchal society that treats women as second-class citizens or worse, and knows no boundaries to maintaining the status quo.

Some of the images are distressing, and yet the book is an inspiration, a testimony to the resilience of these women, the remarkable lack of self-pity and their optimism for the future.

Smita Sharma
We Cry In Silence

Publication & Purchase Info

  • Year of Publication: 2022
  • Publisher: FotoEvidence, Marseillan, France
  • ISBN: 978-1-7324711-9-1
  • RRP: $50.00

Day 6 : Smita Sharma

“When I was 18, I was molested by my college professor. He was a very respected man, and when I tried to share what happened, no one was ready to listen.

Channelling a personal and traumatic experience and using it to champion the cause of women in similar situations is a testament to Smita’s strength of character and her will to bring about positive change through her work. We Cry In Silence  investigates the widespread issue of trafficking minors for sex between Bangladesh, Nepal and India. The project unveils the vulnerability of girls and highlights what leads them into the traps of traffickers. The book seeks to address this complex, global issue at the local level, and open a dialogue to move people to work towards a regional solution.

Published in English, Bengali and Hindi, Smita ensured that the privacy of her subjects wasn’t compromised, using shadows to cover their faces where needed. The images (anonymous or otherwise) show the women in their domestic surroundings or with their families — a mundane life. The idea is to enable people to look at them and think beyond the crime that happened to them.

We cry in Silence was the winner of the 2023 Lucie Photo Book Prize in the Independent Category.

Nan Goldin
Ballad of Sexual Dependency

Publication & Purchase Info – First edition shown in brackets 

  • Year of Publication: 2012 (1986)
  • Publisher: Aperture (Aperture)
  • ISBN: 978-1597112086  (9780893812362)
  • RRP: £40 (available second-hand c. £285)

Day 5 : Nan Goldin

Our sexual obsession remained one of the hooks. One night, he battered me severely, almost blinding me.

Some viewers may find the linked image disturbing.

One of Nan Goldin’s most notable works is The Ballad of Sexual Dependency(1986) a visual journal of her life since leaving home when she was 14, and that of the people on the margins of society. Comprising images depicting drug use, aggressive couples and autobiographical moments, the book is raw and unapologetic, mixing the personal with the culture of the time. In 1984 Nan was physically assaulted by her then-lover Brian in a hotel in Berlin, resulting in a major surgery. 

 Nan one month after being battered’ (1984) is a portrait of the artist, taken by Suzanne Fletcher, that appears in The Ballad of Sexual Dependency. Almost 40 years after its publication, not much seems to have changed for women. However, it is important that women feel confident enough to keep sharing their stories of abuse, for things to change. Nan showed us all a way.

Kourtney Roy
The Other End of the Rainbow

Publication & Purchase Info

Day 4 : Kourtney Roy

Often the places where many of the victims’ bodies were found are unmarked. They were ordinary places, overlooked and inconspicuous. The banality of the sites was disturbing and heartbreaking.

In the series, The Other End of the Rainbow, Kourtney explores the history of murders and disappearances along the ‘Highway of Tears’ – Highway 16 in Northern British Columbia.

Her photographs were made on five separate journeys over a period of two years. During this time, she met many of the people, who had been affected by the murder or disappearance of a loved one on the notorious 720km long road.  The work documents the injustice faced by the families of these missing and murdered women and girls, reflecting the colonial prejudice, racism and indifference from the authorities.

The Other End of the Rainbow won the Prix des libraires photobook of the year in 2023. The series was made possible with the support of the Centre national des arts plastiques (National Centre for Visual Arts), France.

AJ Hewitt
The Darkroom: Case Files of a Scotland Yard Forensic Photographer

Publication & Purchase Info

  • Year of Publication: 2024
  • Publisher: Seven Dials
  • ISBN: 978-1841884851
  • RRP: £9.99

Day 3 : AJ Hewitt

The killer telegraphs his contempt and misogyny through his final efforts to degrade his female victims in death

The casual reader could be forgiven for thinking this is a quote from a crime novel – it’s not.  It is real life as witnessed by forensic photographer A J Hewitt. This candid and compelling memoir immerses readers in the harrowing world of forensic photography. As one of the few women in the field, AJ shares her personal experiences as a Scotland Yard photographer, providing a unique perspective on this often-underappreciated profession.

Before reading this book, we had little understanding of the complexities and intensity of the work. The author’s descriptions transport readers to crime scenes that most of us can’t even imagine, particularly the shocking cases of Men Killing Women (Chapter 5) highlighting the relentless pace and disturbing nature of her work. The readers are fortunate – they can pause between crime scenes, a luxury not afforded to the photographer. And everyone should be asking the question AJ poses: “Where is the outrage by men? The silence is deafening.”

Donna Ferrato
Holy

Publication & Purchase Info

  • Year of Publication: 2021
  • Publisher: powerHouse Books
  • ISBN: 978-1576879108
  • RRP: £47.99

Day 2 : Donna Ferrato

I became a soldier in the war on women. The camera, my weapon.

In 2021, legendary photographer and activist Donna Ferrato published Holy – a 50-year journey across the United States in pursuit of women’s political, emotional, and sexual liberation. Often following the stories of women who have come to trust in her, she pictures their defiance and perseverance in the face of challenging domestic life. By using text, often handwritten on the print itself, Donna places the images in the context of the stories being told. They become diaristic, evidence, memories that cannot and should not be forgotten. These short documentary texts often provide the rest of the story, testimony to the women’s strength to rebuild their lives.

Editor’s Note

We applaud Donna’s use of the expression “War on women” as it feels as though there is a war raging against us, one that is not helped by the language used when talking about male violence.  Too often the expression “Violence Against Women” is used without the entailment of “stop” or “end”. Is this creating a message that women are the problem that needs to be eliminated, not the violence carried out against them? A message insidiously percolating through society? To be continued …

Nancy Princenthal
Unspeakable Acts: Women, Art, and Sexual Violence in the 1970s

Publication & Purchase Info

Day 1 : Nancy Princenthal

‘What if,’ Suzanne Lacy asked Judy Chicago in 1970, ‘we brought an audience into a theater, lowered the lights, and simply played audio tapes of women recounting, in elaborate detail, the story of their rape?’

So run the opening lines of Unspeakable Acts.  Award-winning author, Nancy Princenthal, traces the history of performance art as a feminist activist tool, exploring how artists from the 1970s to the current day have transformed taboo subjects into public discourse.  She offers an overview of how different artists and curators have handled the theme of sexual violence – some more successfully than others –  but all adding to the heroinic conversation that started in the 1970s and continues to grow.  And yes, Suzanne Lacy and Judy Chicago did realise their “what if” scenario as Ablutions (1972) – a collaborative performance between them, Sandra Orgel and Aviva Rahmani.