| The 1970s and early 1980s in Britain, which are the backdrop of this study, marked a period of instability that experienced the collapse of the welfare state, massive unemployment, race riots, and workers' strikes. At this time various forms of social activism emerged, including the Women's Movement, which, like other forms of social activism, turned increasingly to photography as a practice perceived as capable of impacting the social sphere. Whereas there is a large body of materials addressing feminism and photography from this period, these fields have not been adequately considered together. This study, which is based on archival research conducted in London and Leeds, contextualizes feminist photography practices in the frame of debates on feminism and photography and in relation to social and political events. It thus aims to establish a measure of independence from the influential interpretations of the period advanced by feminists and cultural historians who participated in events at the time.;The dissertation is organized around a series of themes related to feminism and photography. One of them is the field of media images as a site of feminist photographic intervention and contestation, with feminist photography practices countering gender stereotypes in advertisements, feminist photo-montages incorporating advertising rhetoric to advocate social issues, and sexist billboard advertisements being spray painted with biting feminist retorts. Another theme is the political role of street photography in relation to the tensions around gender, sexuality, race and worker's rights that erupted on British streets. Feminist photographic documentation is explored in relation to events such as Reclaim the Night marches and the Grunwick Strike, both of great significance for the Women's Movement. Finally, the dissertation considers the institutionalization, at the end of the 1970s, of feminist photography practices that were initially developed outside the museum and academia. It considers the arguments for and against this entry into mainstream cultural spaces, the impact of the accelerating role of the art market as public spending on the arts declined, the tensions that resulted, and the outcomes of the process that changed the place and purpose of feminist political action. |
