Female-identifying artists are invited to submit their work for the 2024 Women In Art Fair (WIAF). Following its successful inaugural edition in 2023, WIAF announces its second edition, themed Time for Unity, taking place in October 2024 at Mall Galleries, during London’s Frieze Week. As the only fair dedicated to women artists, WIAF’s mission is to create a positive global platform from which female artists, curators and gallerists can platform their work and contribute to the developing exchange of ideas around gender, sexuality, and culture.
“Beyond the Women In Art Fair, we hope to build a community of support for artists, and for future generations, creating opportunities and collaborating with partners to create an accessible and supportive network for wider artistic career development.” – Jacqueline Harvey, Fair Director
Artists are invited to join the movement by submitting to the WIAF Open Call, open until 5 April. The Open Call invites the best work spanning all mediums, from contemporary art, photography, ceramics, textiles and sculpture. Artists are encouraged to consider variety in their portfolio, with the submission process welcoming up to five works of art, to give a cohesive impression of their practice and themes leaving the selection committee with a solid grasp of their techniques and style.
This year submissions are to be based around works that show the artist’s creative process, and all this entails; moving through the challenges and setbacks experienced to produce a final work of art. Alternatively, artists can submit work expressing themes of harmony, peace, and unification. The 2024 Open Call selection committee includes contemporary art dealer and curator Virginia Damsta, Jamaican arts ambassador and philanthropist Theresa Roberts, art advisor and AWITA (Association of
Women in the Arts) Co-Founder Katrina Aleska and Women In Art Fair Founder Elena Shchukina.
Last year’s Open Call, in response to the theme The World is A Family, hosted over 140 works by 82 women artists chosen by the WIAF committee from over 1000 submissions to the Open Call.
Notable artists included successful fashion and portrait photographer Violeta Sophia, multi-disciplinary performance artist, sculptor and photographer Lisa Watts, the unique print, paint and textile blend of Danielle Anna Selma and landscape painter Diana Sandetskaya.
WIAF 2024 will again take over Mall Galleries, hosting a booth-style art fair in the West Gallery and the Open Call showcase in the North Gallery. Submissions from curators are also welcomed for consideration for this year’s guest exhibition in the East Gallery. Women In Art Fair is dedicated to creating opportunities for artists and galleries that not only redress the gender imbalance in the art industry but also support career development.
WIAF is an inclusive and diverse global fair, from which women-identifying artists and art-industry individuals are given an opportunity to share in this developing community, while contributing to an exchange of ideas around gender and culture. The exhibition in October 2024 offers artists the opportunity to have their work seen by thousands of visitors at Mall Galleries.
The inaugural edition in October 2023 championed fresh gallerists such as Black Circle Gallery, new to the London art scene and representing talented Jamaican artists past and present working across all media, John Marchant Gallery, who brought work by cult Irish film-maker and artist Vivienne Dick, photographer Alice O’Malley, painter Alison McKenna and a handmade edition work by Delaine Le Bas and Virginia Visual Arts run by seasoned London based gallerist Virginia Damsta showing works by Wen Wu and Alison Jackson.
Other highlights included an exhibition curated by artist and editor Rowena Easton; Unnatural Women which explored our ambivalent relationship with the natural world and bodily nature featuring celebrated names such as Paula Rego and Jean Cooke alongside other established artists. Wider programming included panel discussions with partners such as the Arts Club, Number 22 and Young Masters.
Women In Art Fair opens on the 9th of October until the 12th of October, 2024 at Mall Galleries The Mall, St. James’s London SW1Y 5AS
©2024 Women In Art Fair
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