Aperture Spotlight: Women in Photography

Aperture's first-ever "Spotlight" event drew a packed house at their gallery last night. The hour and a half "Women in Photography" discussion, moderated by Laurel Ptak, Aperture's Educational Programs Manager, was interesting and also a bit of fun, thanks to the slideshows and commentaries given by the two featured photographers, Elinor Carucci and Robin Schwartz.

Schwartz and Carucci were there in support of Cara Phillips and Amy Elkins, the founders of an online gallery called "Women in Photography" (wipnyc.org). Carucci was among the first women to show work on WIPNYC, and Schwartz's photographs are currently being exhibited there.

Phillips and Elkins each spoke about the genesis of the WIPNYC project, which was launched in June of this year. The idea for the site grew out of a Humble Arts Foundation panel, "31 Under 31: young women in art photography," which took place in March, and also from a discussion that grew out of an e-mail Phillips sent in reaction to an article about "Gallerinas" (women who work as gallery assistants), which appeared in the New York Times in March. The article, Elkins said, "emphasized beauty and looks over talent of any kind." ("In a world in which art, fashion, celebrity and money commingle, gallerinas know that their looks — or, at least, their look — can make a difference," Jan Hoffman wrote in the article).

Phillips presented several statistics for the audience to consider, a few of which I'll include here:

—In March 2008, out of 74 solo shows in Chelsea, 16% were by female artists. (Jerry Saltz, New York Magazine)

—In 2007, 1 of 18 solo shows at the MOMA featured a female artist, none of the 8 solo shows at the Getty Museum were by women, and 3 out of 8 solos shows at the Museum of Contemporary Photography were by women.

—On Artfacts.net , which keeps track of the prices artists are fetching for their work, only 13 out of the top 100 artists are women. There is one in the top 10: Cindy Sherman.

—Only 5 out of 31 new publications on Aperture's Web site are the work of female artists.

Feeling that women were being let down by the art world, Phillips and Elkins set up the site with backing from the Humble Arts Foundation. Both spoke of how overwhelmingly positive photographers' reactions had been to their project, the goal of which is to create a community and to communicate to a wide audience through images (rather than through words) the different things women are exploring in their work.

Towards the end of the discussion, Phillips spoke about being a feminist despite the "baggage" associated with the term. But she also pointed out that the site was more interested in art than in making any sort of political statement, and that the "goal is to be positive, not whiny."

Judging by the turnout for the Aperture event, WIPNYC has hit the mark thus far.