Call for Papers
Studio Shots: Representations of Women as Artists

Session at the College Art Association Conference, Chicago

Chairs
Sarah Evans, NIU, sevansniu.edu
Elizabeth Ferrell, UC Berkeley, ferrellberkeley.edu

Photographs of artists in the studio pose particular challenges to
interpretation because they are difficult to categorize as
representations. Are these photographs artworks or documents, products
or representations of process? Should we view the figure in these
photographs as a model or an artist? These questions become more complex
when we consider that photos of women artists in their studios raise the
issue of the legitimacy of their claim to an identity, work, and space
that are traditionally gendered male. How do the photographs construct
or negotiate the woman artist's identity? How do the photographs
represent the studio space and artistic labor? Are taking the photograph
(the artist's act of mediation) and the labor of posing acknowledged
parts of that labor? As feminist scholars, we aim to examine the ways
these images have been made to signify in the history of art, asking how
and why specific photographs of women artists in their studios abet or
vex feminist projects. We welcome papers by scholars and artists that
engage this rich and perplexing group of images.

E-mail abstract, c.v., and cover letter by May 6 2013 to both panel
chairs. For full details of conference and participation requirements,
see http://www.collegeart.org/pdf/2014CallforParticipation.pdf