Co-curation as feminist practice: exhibiting the work of Marion Adnams

This article explores the co-curation of the ‘Marion Adnams: A Singular Woman’ exhibition at Derby Museum and Art Gallery (December 2017 to March 2018). The process of co-curation is a productive and challenging way to engage with an artist’s work. The discussion adopts a feminist perspective to consider the act of curation and the considerations involved in organising and engaging with an artist’s life and work. The place of an artist within narratives of art history can be problematic and challenging and the process of drawing together a body of work for exhibition raises as many questions as it answers. However, this discussion considers the extent to which this is a constructive and significant activity and the ways in which co-curation can contribute to reincorporating artists such as Marion Adnams into art history and recuperating her work and its contribution to British art history and beyond. The approach to feminist co-curation includes a consideration of how to present a female artist’s work and the issues involved in curating an exhibition as a representation of their practice.

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