Women Photographers

Knorr will be exploring new perspectives on documentary practice by contemporary women in photography who exhibit their work internationally. After “the decisive moment” which became the canon in post Second World War II photography new practices have emerged using methods from conceptual art such as scale, the series and image/ text. Diverse strategies are being deployed including sound, video and three dimensional objects. These methods have expanded the field of documentary adding a subjective and poetic element that challenges the spectator’s fixed position. Knorr will be discussing recent work by Gauri Gill (India) Esther Teichmann( U.K)  and Milagros de la Torre ( Peru) and Claudia Andujar (Brazil).

In the early 20th century, Photography was widely regarded as a career for women, particularly in the extensive studio portraiture industry, but also in photojournalism, war reportage and art photography. After the end of WW2, the situation changed, and there were many fewer women active in photographic practice. Only in the 1980s did women begin to realign themselves within photography, with the rise of feminism and a gradual increase in numbers of women studying the medium. A photography career in 2019 is very different to the opportunities identified in the early 20th century. The emergence of social media has allowed women to promote their work without the need for patronage, and the proliferation of festivals, calls for work and self-publishing has had an important effect. Women now outnumber men as students of photography in Northern Europe and the US, but little research has been done to establish their career trajectories. This paper will explore the status of photography as a ‘career for women’ by use of histories and contemporary case studies.

It is in recent years with the introduction of degree courses in photography in 2006 that women have been well represented in Irish photography. My presentation focuses on the work of one photographer Miriam O’Connor who returned to work and live on the family farm following a bereavement in 2013.  Drawing inspiration from the language, sights and sounds of the everyday, her photographic practice frequently engages with matters which reflect her everyday surroundings and contemplates the manner in which this persuasive medium permeates the way we engage with the world around us.  O’Connor positions photography as a tool for posing questions, a medium in itself that commands interrogation.  Her projects have explored themes around looking and seeing: the relationship between camera and subject and the complex nature of photographic representation.

India is one of the largest growing economies rapidly changing urban landscape that has significant impact on socio-cultural fabric. It is also the biggest democracy in the world that is witnessing huge political shifts affecting women’s lives through major policy changes that would impact women’s autonomy over their bodies.  The presentation seeks to explore ways in which contemporary young women photographers are pushing the boundaries of the medium in India and a close look at the role of education in it. While gender remains one of the important themes for women photographers, they also explore other premises while occupying the position of a woman photographer. I aim to present photographies from emerging women photographers and some of the other curatorial engagements that actively question systematic oppressions within a heteropatriarchal society and the art world.

In rural agrarian communities, women farmers are often considered as silent workforce. Their efforts in understanding the resource dynamics and managing the harvest is though well documented is hardly recognized as economic activity. In the wake of changing climate, many existing agrarian production systems are facing threat or decreased production. As an adaptation strategy, many farming systems are moving from traditional crops to new species, new technologies and new farming methods. In this dynamic the changing role of women in agriculture is not well recognized. The study tries to understand the shifting rural agrarian dynamics in periurban Bangalore Karnataka, where farming has moved from Raggi to other farming systems such as floriculture and horticulture due to water stress and reduced land availability with increased urbanisation. This has changed the women farmers and their association with resources, and their bargaining power agrarian decision making. Hence objectives of the study are firstly to assess the changing farming patterns in climate vulnerable Peri-urban Bangalore, Karnataka and secondly to examine the changing resource-gender–power dynamics in farming sector. The case study is based on two panchayaths in rural Karnataka Rajanakunde and Doddaballapur. Primary data is collected through unstructured questionnaires , key informant interviews and focus groups. The result shows the changing relations in terms of gender and resources and gender and power in the sector.

Exposure to female leaders can lead to the transformation of community-level gender perceptions as well as the empowerment of young girls and women. However, factors such as illiteracy, lack of mobility and power imbalances act as impediments to women realising their leadership potential. Seva Mandir, a grassroots organization working with rural and marginalized communities in southern Rajasthan, seeks to bring out this hindered potential, by equipping local women with the knowledge, skills and opportunities to exercise leadership in an otherwise maledominated society through the building of institutions such as Self Help Groups, Water Management Committees, Childcare Centers and Women’s Resource Centres. Additionally, by engaging with and sensitising local men, including powerful stakeholders such as caste leaders on women’s issues, as well as the youth, Seva Mandir motivates them to become part of the local female empowerment movement. This paper presents and examines case studies of these empowered women, in order to demonstrate how creating leadership spaces for them can result in not only their own empowerment, but also that of girls and women around them. Additionally, we provide an analysis of common trends between the individual journeys of these women, highlighting the common barriers, support systems and opportunities for intervention, with a view to helping inform the design and implementation of future women empowerment initiatives. The case studies have been sampled through a review of Seva Mandir’s extensive archive, which consists of documentation and research spanning the past 50 years.

The linkages of natural resource management and gender-social dimensions has been documented and augmented over the years both at micro and macro level. Despite the various ongoing efforts, gender and social equality processes has never been an easy process because of local complexities and contextual dynamics at micro-meso-macro level. The changing context of governance structure and policies with federal structure embarks new dynamism and new challenges for natural resources management within and across province borders for Nepal. Whilst achieving sustainable development goals target 5-gender equality alongside cross cutting themes is crucial. This paper discusses the need and approaches of programs and policies in place for Gender and Social equality in natural resources programs, gaps and recommendations to achieve it with acceleration.

The aim of the study is to celebrate the role of women in shaping the built environment through architecture. The objective is to highlight the contribution of women in the profession and bring forth the critical points that needs to be addressed at individual, institutional and collective level to understand what makes/breaks/tweaks the career of women architects in the India. The study is a call to action for both men and women in the architecture profession to realize the need for equitable architectural practice in order to advance towards sustainable architecture. The study is based on the presumption of the profession being heavily patriarchal. Some challenges of lesser recognition to women architects are presumed to be: women are not documenting and dissemination their work enough to be recognized; the profession only recognizes practicing professionals to be architects whereas those in research and education are excluded where women constitute a large number; women are multi-tasking even within the profession thus mostly lesser identified as masters; women architects collaborating with their spouse or otherwise in research/practice are mostly recognized by the partner; women architects in education have a challenge being recognized as architects; and last but not the least recognition does not matter much to women as they are constantly living in this perception that they are accommodating life as well as work to their best but not enough for recognition.

A documentation of the biographical journey of thirty women architects from practice, research and education from Ahmedabad are planned as cases/subjects of the study. The interview with the subjects is through both video and verbal documentation. The interview is simple in order to generate a simple story telling kind of narration covering broad sub-sections- life that led to architecture, opportunities and challenges to be in the profession, perception of people around, perception on gender in the profession and in making the cities. A Coffee Table Book comprising of short stories is planned alongside a series of documentary in the form of you tube videos to enhance the outreach, for example, watch Here>>