Alternative Arts has collaborated with galleries, venues, libraries and institutions across East London to celebrate Women’s History Month this March. Presenting some of the best of East London’s culture for this global festival which empowers women and brings about change. Women’s stories are captured in photography, amplified by DJ’s, curated in exhibitions and told through speech.
Contemporary artists embrace the festival with new productions such as Flies at Shoreditch Town Hall by renowned performer and playwright Charlie Joesphine and with choreography by the acclaimed Ballet Black at The Barbican. Sarah Ainslie documents Women of Bethnal Green at Work in a series of photo portraits and Women’s achievements in sport are represented in a new photographic exhibition at Brady Arts Centre.
Alongside the contemporary, there are commemorative events such as Women’s Activism in the 20th Century at LSE library and the retrospective exhibition Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-70 at Whitechapel Gallery, introducing 80 international artists of the predominantly male movement whose work may have been overshadowed.
E X H I B I T I O N S
Women & Sport
An open submission Women’s History Month Photography Exhibition at Brady Arts Centre.
Open 2-30 March
Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-70
Whitechapel Gallery’s major exhibition with 150 artworks from 80 international artists.
Open until 7 May
Alice Neel Hot Off The Griddle
An exhibition at the Barbican Gallery with vibrant painted portraits of characters from New York’s underground.
Open until 21 May
Women of Bethnal Green at Work
Photographs by Sarah Ainslie at Oxford House.
Open until 31 March.
Living in Fear of Quicksand
Maria Amidu’s first UK solo exhibition, displayed across two venues: The Nunnery Gallery and Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archive.
Open 3 March – 21 May
The Female Gaze: Women in Theatre
Photography by Shelia Burnett documenting radical women’s theatre groups of the 80s at Chats Palace.
Open until 22 April
Sasha Huber: You Name It. Artist
Sasha Huber explores how colonial histories are imprinted into the landscape through naming and acts of remembrance – asking what actions it might take to repair the inherited traumas of history. At Autograph.
Open until 25 March
L I V E P E R F O R M A N C ES
Arab Women Artists Now, an annual festival of comedy, music, film and performance at Rich Mix.
1 – 31 March
Charlie Josephine’s Flies by Boundless Theatre at Shoreditch Town Hall, a new play about girls being looked at by boys.
25 Feb – 11 March
On The Front Line with Muslim, Jewish and Black women writers at the Zeleha Café, produced by Exiled Writers Ink.
6 March
In Her Words – Madison Cunningham, Tawiah + More. The Barbican Centre‘s International Women’s Day show celebrates the music of these amazing female singer-songwriters.
8 March
Then or Now by Ballet Black. Cassa Pancho’s latest production is a double bill celebrating the life and legacy of two female icons, blending classical ballet, music and the poetry of Adrienne Rich, while Nina: By Whatever Means is a love letter to musician, performer and activist, Nina Simone, that combines ballet, jazz and the blues. Barbican Centre.
8 – 12 March
East London based Purple Moon Drama presents I Am Womxn, an evening of spoken word, art installation and live music to champion women’s voices.
30 March and another performance including the official book launch of If Tits Could Talk by Holly McCornish on 15 March.
Sarah Jane Morris and the Solis String Quartet present All You Need Is Love with magical arrangements of Lennon & McCartney’s songs, enhancing the classical status of the Beatles songs at St Matthias Church, Stoke Newington, presented by Blow the Fuse.
24 March
E V E N T S A N D T A L K S
A series of courses and workshops at the Bishopsgate Institute including an afternoon discussion and screening from the People Make Television exhibition at the Raven Row Gallery.
Until 26 March
A screening of the Film I’m Fine – Thanks for Asking + Q&A with Kelly Kali at the Genesis Cinema.
4 March
Girlz B Like all Female vinyl night. Celebrating their first anniversary at Grow where it all started. Run by Marcia Carr, a bonafide club legend with more than three decades of experience DJing – whose mixes have graced the likes of BBC Radio One and Rinse FM.
11 March
Launch of the Otij-jo Community Library at the Tati Craft Hub.
8 March
Royal Museums Greenwich (RMG) will celebrate Women’s History Month with a season of special events, workshops and talks.
Throughout March
Walking Tour: Ayahs and Amahs, remembering the Indian and Chinese nannies of East London (1820s-1940s) at Hackney Museum.
30 March
Women’s Activism in the 20th Century. Dr Paula Bartley gives a lecture based on her latest book Women’s Activism in 20th Century Britain. At Women’s Library @ LSE (London School of Economics).
23 March
Women’s Voices Now Film Festival 2023 A women’s rights documentary film festival for emerging film makers. Online at womensvoicesnow.org
1-31 March
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH in East London is co-ordinated by Alternative Arts and supported by Tower Hamlets Council alongside all the many artists and venues participating.
DON’T MISS THIS ALL-FEMALE ISSUE OF BEAST MAGAZINE!
Tag us with your copy of Beast magazine @beastmag_london on Instagram