AIWAC 2024
Fourth Edition November 13-15, 2024
Love, Marriage, Desire. The Civic and Juridic Status of Women from Antiquity to Modernity: Acquiescence, Resistance, Destabilization
Dr. Almenara Erika
Associate Professor of Spanish and Director of the Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies Program at the University of Arkansas
Dr. Erika Almenara is Associate Professor of Spanish and Director of the Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies Program at the University of Arkansas. She was a Fulbright Senior Scholar (Peru 2022-2023) and the president of the Peru Section of the Latin American Studies Association (2022-2024). Her research and teaching interests include Andean oral, written, and visual culture; literary, critical, subaltern, and post-colonial theory, as well as feminist and transfeminist theory.
Dr. Almenara’s book, The Language of the In-Between. Travestis, Post-hegemoy, and Writing in Contemporary Chile and Peru (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2022) locates alternate cultural productions that stake a claim for the emergence of a language capable of exposing and transforming marginalization and oppression. Along with her book Dr. Almenara has published six book chapters, five articles in non-refereed journals, and eleven articles in refereed journals such as Chasqui, Hispanofila, Revista Iberoamericana, Latino Book Review, Letras femeninas, and Nomadias.
ABSTRACT – “The Monstruous Subjectivity of the Trans and Travesti Body as Creator of Other Ways of Existing and Being in Las malas by Camila Sosa Villada”
In my paper, I contend that Las malas (2019) or Bad Girls by trans Argentine writer and theater, film, and television actress Camila Sosa Villada proposes that the trans and the travesti, their monstrosity and vulnerability habilitate other possible ways of existing and being in the world.
CARAVITA IRENE
Research Fellow at Sapienza University of Roma
Irene Caravita is Research Fellow at Sapienza University of Roma, joining the project WOW – Women Writing around the camera – PRIN 2022. Her studies range in the field history of contemporary art and photography, investigating episodes and relationships in Italy after the Second World War. She discussed her PhD at the Sapienza in 2020, and later won the 2021 Thesis Prize to publish Photography in the private galleries of Milan, 1967-1975 (De Luca, Roma, 2022). She had already won the Avvio alla ricerca 2019, funds thart supported the study of the unpublished pictorial production of Mario Giacomelli, a project concluded by the publication of Mario Giacomelli painter (Campisano, Rome, 2022) and by exhibition Mario Giacomelli between painting and photography (MLAC, Rome, 2022). Her essay has been published on “L’Uomo Nero”, “Piano B” and “Dune”, compiled the Diagramma entry for Bloomsbury Art Market, and included in the edited volumes Paradigmi del fotografico (Bologna, 2022) and Astratte (Milano, 2023).
A perfect loving and intellectual alliance? Fernanda Pivano and le belle ragazze di Ettore Sottsass.
In the middle of the Sixties, Fernanda Pivano (1917-2009) and Ettore Sottsass Junior (1917-2007) are a powerful couple: a sentimental, intellectual and creative alliance. They gave birth to the publishing project East 128, that produced zines and books among whom is Le belle ragazze (1965), a photobook that merge Sottsass pictures of female bodies and Pivano’s writings. It is a case study that allow us today to reflect on her contradictions, deeply related to the historical, social and geographical contest she’s born and grew in. Prisoner of her bourgeois idea of love and marriage, while she was so strongly resolute, open, free and independent about literature, travels, music and political ideas.
Liana De Girolami Cheney
Ph.D., Professor of Art History (emerita) at UMASS Lowell, USA
Liana De Girolami Cheney, Ph.D., Professor of Art History (emerita) at UMASS Lowell, USA, a Visiting Art History Researcher at Università di Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy, and Investigadora de Historia de Arte at SIELAE, Universidad de Coruña, Spain. She is the author and co-author of books on Mannerism, Pre-Raphaelite Paintings, and Women’s Art, notably Neoplatonism in the Arts (2002, 2004); The Homes of Giorgio Vasari (1985, 2006); Giorgio Vasari’s Teachers (2007); Giorgio Vasari’s Emblematic Manifestations (2011); Giorgio Vasari’s Prefaces (2012); Giuseppe Arcimboldo (2008, 2016); Agnolo Bronzino (2014); Readings in Italian Mannerism I and II (2007 and 2020); Edward Burne-Jones’s Mythological Paintings (2013); Edward Burne-Jones: On Nature (2021); Self-Portraits of Women Painters (2000, 2009); Women Artists: The Most Excellent (2003); Lavinia Fontana’s Mythological Paintings (2020, 2024); and Barbara Longhi of Ravenna (2023, 2024).
Varotari, Longhi and Robusti: Sister Muses
The presentation explores the dedication of three women as muses and sisters: Chiara Varotari from Padua, who aided her brother Alessandro; Barbara Longhi from Ravenna, who managed her brother Francesco’s atelier and estate; and Marietta Robusti from Venice, who modeled for her brother Domenico Tintoretto.
BUOSO SARA
Academic, art-critic and curator
Sara Buoso is an academic, art-critic and curator.
She holds a PhD in Art Theory and History (An Ethics of Light) at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, 2024.
She has presented her work at international conferences – “Illusionismo”, Neologismi, 2022, “Phantasia, Mythopoiesis, and Techniques of Collective Imagination”, Art&Psyche: Conference IV. The Illuminated Imagination, 2019 – published for scientific journals – “Universe,” Vesper Journal, 2022, “Outside the Spectrum,” Open Arts Journal, 2019, and catalogue exhibitions – “Abstract Virtuosity,” Laura Santamaria. Orbite Sacre Corpi Celesti, ThePosito, 2024, “Glossary entry”, Ecos. Magdalena Fernandez, Museo Amparo and Carillo Gill, 2019 – plus, she corresponds for trade magazine such as Juliet Art Magazine and The Art Section.
As a researcher and curator, she was convenor of the symposium and exhibition of International Day of Light at Chelsea College, UAL, 2018, and chief curator of the symposium and exhibition Timeless Light- Entanglement, Ionion Center for the Arts and culture, Kefalonia, 2023.
From 2022, she is lecturer of Art History and Contemporary Visual Arts, at AANT, Academy of Arts and New Technologies, Rome, and DAM, Digital Arts and Media Academy, Rome.
Title: A Visual Rhetoric: Anachronisms and Ekphrasis in Marietta Patricia Leis’s painting
Abstract:
This paper proposes an anachronistic reading of the work of the Mannerist artist, Marietta Robusti Tintoretto through a reading of the poetic practice of the contemporary American Italian artist and poet, Marietta Patricia Leis, in terms of affect and affinities, merging into a visual rhetoric.
CARLINI LUDOVICA
specialised in contemporary art history from a gender perspective for her second year master's thesis
Short bio
Ludovica Carlini specialised in contemporary art history from a gender perspective for her second year master’s thesis: she carried out archival fieldwork to reconstruct the artistic career of Laura Grisi
from 1950 to 1972.
For the last few years, she has been working in the world of contemporary art galleries in Paris: in particular, she has worked for the female artists’ archive of the Galerie des Femmes. At the same time, she attended the École Normale Supérieure for two semesters as part of the European Liberal Art
Network programme and courses at the Sorbonne Paris-1 as an Erasmus student.
She is currently continuing her research for a doctoral thesis on Ida Gianelli and works for the Fondazione Palazzo Chigi Zondadari. Her publications include four artist’s forms for the exhibition catalogue Costellazioni. Arte italiana 1915-1960 dalle Collezioni Monte dei Paschi di Siena e Cesare
Brandi (Sillabe, Livorno, 2024) and in January 2025 she will present Laura Grisi and the Relationship with the Non-Western: Pasos por Buenos Aires (1959) for the Straniere: the reception of non European arts and cultures in Italy (1945-2000) seminar at the Università degli Stranieri di Siena.
Short abstract
This study aims to identify the ways in which fathers and husbands can influence the professionalisation of women artists born in Italy during the 1930s. The case of Laura Grisi serves to illustrate the value of applying the sociological method developed by Maria Antonietta Trasforini to
the history of art.
Cooney Brianna
Independent scholar in Washington, DC
Bio
Brianna Cooney is currently an independent scholar in Washington, DC. She has held positions as the Joseph F. McCrindle Curatorial Intern in the department of sculpture and decorative arts at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Fine Arts Graduate Intern at The Potomack Company, and as the Fred W. Hicks Curatorial Intern at the Cornell Fine Arts Museum. She has presented at several conferences including the Feminist Art History Conference, the Robyn Rafferty Mathias Student Research Conference, and the AU/GW Graduate Art History Symposium. Most recently she was awarded the Samuel H. Kress Foundation History of Art Grant for the Summer Course for the Study of the Arts in Flanders ‘Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture’. Her research interests include issues of power and patronage, Mediterranean trade, and materiality. Brianna holds a MA in art history from American University and a BA in art history and international business from Rollins College.
Abstract
This paper argues that Duchess Eleonora Gonzaga (1493-1550) was the patron of the Mars, Venus, and Cupid coppa (1532)- an example of istoriato maiolica, historiated tin-glazed earthenware- by Francesco Xanto Avelli (1487-1542). In discussing the materiality of the coppa, this paper analyzes the visual, material, and cultural consumption in Marchegian court culture by examining the sensuous and sensual aspects of maiolica imagery. Ultimately, the coppa served as a political tool during a banquet, communicating not only ducal power, but also foregrounding
Eleonora’s political and marital authority.
Fredrick David
Associate Professor in Classical Studies and Game Design in the Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Arkansas
Short Biography
David Fredrick (Ph.D., Classics, University of Southern California, 1992) is an Associate Professor in Classical Studies and Game Design in the Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Arkansas. From 2012-21, he directed the Tesseract Center for Immersive Environments and Game Design, an award winning educational game studio on the University of Arkansas campus. Fredrick has over 15 years of experience teaching
3D modeling and game design, and has coordinated the production of substantial 3D games and applications, as well as 2D storybook games and VR projects. He directs the Virtual Pompeii Project, developing an AI application for intelligent searching and visualization of the corpus of wall painting in Pompeii. Fredrick has published extensively on gender, sexuality, and representation in Roman literature and visual art, including the edited volume The Roman Gaze
Vision, Power, and the Body (Johns Hopkins, 2002).
Summary of Presentation
Title: The Pictrix and Priapus: Queer Agency on Pompeian Walls
Summary:
This presentation performs a close reading of the depiction of a feminate pictrix (painter) from the House
of the Surgeon (VI 1 10) in Pompeii, who, while painting a herm (Priapus or Dionysus) with an erection, displays a small erection in their own lap, echoed by the brush (penicillum) in their right hand. As active
but feminate, the pictrix belongs to a larger set of feminate non-binary figures with erections in Pompeian wall painting that point to queer agency, challenging the orthodoxy of the Roman house as “power-house” for elite men.
Ruiz Garnelo Isabel
Substitute professor in the Department of Art History at the Universitat de València.
Ruiz Garnelo, Isabel
I will soon start a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral contract at the UNED in Madrid (Spain). During the last year I served as a substitute professor in the Department of Art History at the Universitat de València. I obtained the Extraordinary Doctoral
Award for my thesis, titled “The Artistic Heritage of the Crown of Aragon Community in Rome (c. 1350-1522)” (21/03/2023), and the National Bachelor’s Degree Award.
My expertise lies in Renaissance Art History, focusing particularly on the cultural exchanges between Rome and the territories of the Crown of Aragon. I have
conducted multiple research visits to Italy, published in high-impact journals, and presented at national and international conferences. I was actively involved in the
teaching innovation project “Veus, imatges i paraules per a la decolonització de la
Història de l’Art” and in the research project “Living Nobly in Modern Valencia, a Court of the Spanish Monarchy”.
Women in Action: Female Agency in the Community of the Crown of Aragon in Rome (1350-1525)
This paper highlights the presence of more than a hundred women from the Crown of Aragon in Rome between 1350 and 1525, who were associated with the hospitals of Saint Nicholas and Saint Marguerite “catalanorum” as well as the Nostra Dona de Montserrat brotherhood. It examines their characteristics, spirituality, commitment to hospitality, and their contributions to the development of cultural and artistic heritage.
Gauß Paula
Research assistant, Ph.D. candidate, and lecturer at the Braunschweig University of Art (HBK Braunschweig, Institut für Kun stwissenschaft)
Summarized bio
Paula Gauß is research assistant, Ph.D. candidate, and lecturer at the Braunschweig University of Art (HBK Braunschweig, Institut für Kun stwissenschaft), where she teaches art history, with a focus on art on the West Coast of the USA since the 20th century. Her teaching and research interests include reception of art history, feminist art history, Pop Art, peace movements, and joyfully revolutionary art.
Abstract
The paper, “Love is hard work” – A field analysis of the challenges faced
by Corita Kent,” will explore the question of what position “love, mar
riage, and desire” occupied in the artist’s life. It will also examine the significance that the label “pious” had for the artist in the avant-garde in the middle of the last century. In addition, Paula Gauß will shed light on the self-empowerment processes of Corita Kent and her artworks.
Hall Cathy
PhD, independent scholar
Brief Bio
Catherine Hall-van den Elsen, PhD, is an independent scholar. Cathy studied Spanish art and literature at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, completing her MA and PhD on the life and work of the Spanish sculptor Luisa Roldán. In 2018 she published a monograph on Roldán in
Spanish (Fuerza e Intimismo: Luisa Roldán escultora, Madrid, CSIC) and in 2021 another for an English-speaking audience (Luisa Roldán, London, Lund Humphries and Getty, Los Angeles).
Cathy published an annotated bibliography in the Oxford Bibliography Series (2020) and book chapters on Roldán’s work in the Spanish Court, her early polychrome wooden sculpture, and the challenges she encountered as a sculptor and a mother. In her volume Gender and the Woman Artist in Early Modern Iberia (Routledge 2024) Cathy discussed sixteen women painters, sculptors and engravers, who lived in early modern Spain and Portugal. A second edition of her Spanish monograph Luisa Roldán: Fuerza e Intimismo is forthcoming (CSIC, 2024).
Brief abstract
Using research carried out for her recently published volume Gender and the woman artist in early modern Iberia (Routledge, 2024) this paper briefly examines the lives of five Spanish women from the early modern period who engaged in artistic practice, married, conformed to community expectations, and tackled (with mixed success) with the life challenges that confronted them.
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