"At Element, today and everyday we're celebrating womxn. Womxn have always played urgent and essential roles in the movements for the arts, racial and gender equality, voting rights, LGBTQ+ rights, labour rights, children's & young people's rights and much more.

We find strength and courage in those who have and continue to fight for justice whilst facing the impact of colonisation, displacement and systemic oppression.

I'm so proud to be a part of a team of joyful and creative womxn, who inspire me today and everyday. I hope you enjoy reading this special blog post, dedicated to some of our favourite womxn artists.

Lastly, whilst we celebrate today, the day also highlights the work that remains to be done....a moment for reflection and also a call to action"

Halima Nessa, CEO

It’s International Womxn's Day and we’re celebrating by sharing some of our favourite artists. We hope you enjoy and feel inspired 🌠

We choose to write 'womxn' to avoid the sexism of 'men' and 'man' in the word. It is also a word used in intersectional feminism to include trans women, non-binary people and those who identify as womxn but are not Assigned Female At Birth.

We’re including artists from all over the world who have had all sorts of different lives because we want to #InspireInclusion in who gets to be celebrated today.

At Element, we apply an intersectional lens to our work. This means that we understand that sometimes people will experience multiple forms of inequality, these different types of inequality intersect creating a different experience. For instance, a womxn who is racialised as white will have a different experience to a womxn who is racialised as black, or a working class womxn will have a different experience to one who comes from financial privilege. On this International Womxn’s Day, lets #InspireInclusion by recognising these intersectional experiences of oppression and inequality.

A green circle with the words ‘Your Lived Experience’ in the middle, surrounded by the identities that contribute to this: Sexuality, Race, Gender, Ethnicity, Care -experience, Calss, Age, Geographic Location, Nationality and Disability.

✊🏽💪 International Womxn’s Day acknowledges the inequality many womxn experience across the world whilst also celebrating their creative vision, power and determination. On 8th March 1908 womxn workers marched through New York to protest child labour, sweatshop working conditions and to demand womxn’s right to vote. This is how International Womxn’s Day started. Womxn’s power and collective action changed laws and lives.

Lydia, our Head of Programme Development is spotlighting Carmen Amaya 💃🏽🕺🏽

Carmen Amaya was a Spanish Romani flamenco dancer. Born in Catalonia, Spain in the 1910’s she grew to become one of the most famous flamenco dancers of all time. On International Womxn's day we're celebrating her because she revolutionised flamenco dance and broke many of the rules and traditions of the old style. She did this through her fast and intricate footwork, and by dancing in trousers rather than the layered traditional skirt. This style of flamenco was groundbreaking because such footwork was commonly reserved for men - it was deemed 'too complicated' for womxn. Amaya was also largely responsible for popularising flamenco as she travelled the world performing and appeared in several Hollywood films. Again, this wasn’t very typical of the time because flamenco was traditionally performed as part of gitano street culture, and in taverns, never on world stages!

You only need to watch 30 seconds of Amaya dancing to see what a powerhouse she is! Watch her dance here. 💥

https://youtu.be/AbllSQtC1hI

Our CEO, Halima, admires Fatna Gbouri🌅

Fatna Gbouri was a Moroccan painter who was born in Tnine Gharbia, a small village in the province of Safi, in 1924. Common for the womxn of her country, she worked the land and wove carpets.

I have respect and admiration for Fatna as she joined the Singular Art movement (sometimes referred to as post-brut art). Singular art is the art of the self taught who, like Fatna Gbouri, do not respect the classical codes of painting - instead they respect intuition and spontaneity. They reject the academic method and embrace the process of creating (we are all about celebrating the process of creating at Element!) 💫✨

Fatna draws our gaze into a traditional and also a detached world, she takes care to surprise us with a choice of eclectic and vivid colours without distorting the beauty of the moments that she captures.

Youth Delivery Officer, Saba, is showcasing Nigar Nazar

Nizar is a Pakistani female cartoonist. Nigar Nazar is the chief executive officer of Gogi Studios, an arts studio who create projects that actively and exclusively address societal issues. Nigar switched from a medical degree to a degree in fine arts in 1968. She graduated in fine arts from the University of Punjab, Lahore. Nigar Nazar is the first womxn cartoonist of Pakistan and of the Muslim world.

Her best-known character, Gogi, is an urban Pakistani womxn struggling within the challenging context of sexist social norms and the expectations put on her by patriarchy. The character was created to educate people about social and educational issues and advocate for change. Four children’s hospitals in Islamabad and Rawalpindi have been decorated with Gogi cartoons and health messages, and she has appeared in different newspapers and magazines.

Nigar has also authored and illustrated 27 books for children. She was nominated by BBC for “100 Global womxn who have made a difference in 2014” and NHK, the largest TV channel of Japan, has produced a 28 minute documentary. Recently the President of Pakistan launched her book, Destruction by Corruption. Nigar uses storytelling and cartoons to change the world!! 🙀

Head of Programme Delivery, Jord-ann, is appreciating Sonia Boyce

Sonia Boyce is a British contemporary artist known for her multimedia work exploring themes of race, gender and identity. Her art incorporates a variety of mediums such as performance, painting and sound.

Sonia's work first captured my attention for its thought provoking engagement with social issues, alongside the creativity explored across the multiple artforms. She is able to challenge perceptions and create conversations around complex topics through her art. Boyce was also the first Black British female to have her artwork purchased by the Tate.

One of my favourite pieces is 'Lay Back, Keep Quiet and Think of What Made Britain so Great', as it highlights issues around race and gender within British history and culture, challenging the traditional power structures.

Youth Delivery Officer Ciara’s chosen artist is Caryl Churchill

Caryl Churchill redefined how a play could be written and received by audiences. Born on the 3rd of September 1938, Caryl, a British playwright and multiple award-winner, is known for tackling themes such as abuse of power, politics, sexuality and feminism through her use of non-naturalistic techniques manifested through her unique style of writing. She breathed new life onto the scene with her play ‘Top Girls’. Released in 1982, the innovative play centres around a career-driven womxn who is incredibly invested in the success of womxn in business. It shines a light on what it takes to be a womxn who wants to succeed through the lens of old society (while also reflecting today’s world coincidently in other aspects).

In 2012, 30 years after ‘Top Girls’ was released into the world, she wrote the mind-boggling ‘Love and Information’; a play that quite literally deals with themes of both love and information (and sometimes both at the same time). She opened doors for many womxn, allowing them to spread their own wings and inspired them to tell their own truths and not to be scared of the ‘big, bad world’. 💗

Innes, our Youth Engagement Manager, respects Bimini Bon-Boulash

Bimini is a drag queen, author, recording artist and model, well known for her appearance in the second series of Ru Paul’s drag race. After Drag Race, Bimini said:

“We were in a dark place, and I think the highlight was being able to lift people’s spirits, and give them a bit of hope and a bit of the laughter that we all needed.”
I think that’s a pretty cool motivation to be out doing what you do.

In March 2021, Bimini made their London Fashion Week runway debut modelling collection Art School, a genderless fashion label for designer Eden Loweth’s AW21 collection. The collection explores contemporary queerness and, to me, shows how exciting ‘queering’ fashion can be in creating new and exciting ways for expressing ourselves.

Drag as an art form powerfully transcends gender confinement and challenges stereotypes. It is a powerful and creative act of self expression and exploration, often making audiences question their own ideas, usually in a theatrical and comical way.

The drag scene has always worked to subvert ideas of hierarchies in race, class and beauty. The New York ‘Ball’ scene showed that everyone was worthy of a ballgown, a house and family, and to be adored - especially black, queer bodies. In a time when it was literally life-threatening to be anything other than hetronormative, straight, white body, drag queens shaped and transformed what is beautiful, who is allowed to be feminine, and highlighted how gender is constructed. For more on this, watch ‘It’s a Sin’ (tv show) and ‘Paris is Burning’ (film) - two beautiful bits of art, although they have quite heavy content. 👸🏽

For me, Drag Queens (and kings!) #InspireInclusivity

Youth Delivery Officer, Liz, hotspots Esther Teichmann

Esther Teichmann is a British multimedia artist who works primarily with photography, film and painting to create alternate worlds that merge fantasy with reality. She explores the correlation between loss and desire through a speculative lens and captures intimate and ethereal images of landscapes, figures and inanimate objects.

I was initially drawn to Esther’s work because of the vibrant colours and textures of the natural world captured in her work and how they reflect somewhat of an alternate and unearthly world where dreams merge with memories and memories blur reality. I love the ambiguity of Esther’s visuals and the myriad of interwoven sentiments that are conveyed when I immerse myself in her world.

Element staff are inspired to include every womxn's experiences in shaping how society works whilst appreciating and learning from every womxn's creative contributions. We recognise the specific and nuanced experiences womxn have and work hard to dismantle colonial and patriarchal hierarchies to truly be able to include everyone.

👯‍♀️👩🏾‍🎤👩🏿‍🎨🧚‍♀️🦹🏾‍♀️👌

A special post, dedicated to our favourite womxn artists this International Womxn's Day