Perhaps gender itself is a performance. In 1990, gender theorist Judith Butler introduced the idea that gender is not what we ‘are’, it is something that we ‘do’. The artists at the Chennai Photo Biennale come from various walks of life with differing geographical and cultural contexts from Ann Griffin (Switzerland), Bhumika Saraswati (India), Delphine Diallo (France/USA), Farheen Fatima (India) and Hannah Cooke (Germany) among others. “It’s Time. To See. To Be Seen.” on view till 16 March 2025 attempts to capture the female experience across various cultural contexts. Although it is defined by actions, behaviors and performances which vary considerably across the world, there is a common thread of societal expectations imposed on femininity.
“Women-artists are not a genre and this show is not a chronological amassing of work by women in photography and its spectrums. Women have been responding to the world since time immemorial through photography, text and opinion,” say the organisers. The curatorial direction guided by Dayanita Singh, Dr.Katharina Goergen, Mathangi Krishnamurthy and Sheba Chhachhi, invites an investigation of the creative medium itself. The idea of a “woman artist” or more specifically a “woman photographer” presents a strange conundrum. Historically, the female gender has acted as the subject of the male gaze (the steering force behind the lens). “It’s 2024, and this community is still having to argue louder — to be heard, to be believed, to be celebrated in equal measure. The show offers a deeper understanding of these artists’ practices by contextualising them within larger artistic movements, societal changes and feminist thinking,” the organisers argue.
“Simone de Beauvoir writes, ‘One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.’ And the tragedy of that idea is the same associated with the diminutive prefix of ‘woman’ accompanying any identity”
