When Feminism Imitates Art: Ecofeminism at PST

Though somewhat small in scale, The Brick provides a generous show that still manages to hold its own when compared to larger PST spaces, especially when considering the breadth of Ecofeminism. 

Deriving from Francois d'Eaubonne’s 1974 book, Le féminisme ou la mort, where she drew comparison between gender relations and humans’ interactions with nature, Taft ventures to explore the past traditions juxtaposed with contemporary work. Free and accessible to the public, one is able to see a great variety in Life on Earth, work that expands across a gradient. 

One of the exhibition’s earliest pieces in the show is Aviva Rahmani’s Physical Education, a documented performance that follows Rahmani as she fills a plastic bag with tap water from her CALArts dormitory before driving it down to the ocean and “setting it free.”

From there, she brings ocean water back with her in the same plastic bag before flushing it down the toilet. Recorded through photographs and video, the piece stands in the central entrance of the gallery space, creating context and a lineage for the other work in the show.

Much of the space is dedicated to installations, many of which have interactive elements. When one first walks into the space, they are faced with large screens displaying video-work, courtesy of the Alliance of the Southern Triangle (A.S.T.),  and three mini, analog televisions playing video essays from the Institute of Queer Ecology. 

In the midst of the technological sphere, one will not only find Rahmani’s video piece displayed, but a sea of disciplinary textures, from Masumi Hayashi’s collaged photographs from the late 80s, or Tabita Rezaire’s reading area, to an interactive lighthouse commissioned in honor of Octavia Butler. 

And, how could one take on the subject of Ecofeminism in 2024 without considering Octavia Butler, whose intersectional work, not only ahead of its time, was contingent on the questioning of patriarchy through the concern of natural disaster. 

Artist Alicia Pillar was asked to work with Butler’s archive in order to highlight the American author’s importance in the movement. The Chicago-born jeweler-turned-sculptor worked to create an interactive piece in which viewers could “walk inside, take a seat, and have a moment with [Octavia].” 

“She was such a leader in the field,” says Piller about Butler. “She was trying to warn people about the potential effects of the future, and it was important for me to incorporate man-made items mixed with photographs to symbolize human intervention in nature.” 

Piller created her “Earth Seed” by combining images of Butler, newspaper clippings, and natural elements like seeds and wood with discarded bricks, found objects individually wrapped in vinyl, and the leftover appendages from 3D printed items. 

“All of the armatures [3D printing] are waste,” explains Piller, “and they look like plant forms, so those are intermingled throughout. For me, in my practice, when I was asked to work with [Octavia’s] archive, it became a chance to create something the human body could interact with, I wanted to make a structure to be entered into.”

Another commissioned piece is the network of Carolina Caycedo’s seed-pod structures, which show the Colombian artist’s most recent style of work. The multidisciplinary artist who has practiced in the field of video work, performance, sculpture, and collage shows her “experimentation with the wood element.”

Though she “initially envisioned the sculptures as public structures, up to 12 feet tall,” she also mentioned that once one begins to envision the process of creating them for the white cube of a gallery, different choices have to be made.

In the end, the sculptures inspired by Caycedo’s three sisters— South American purple corn, squash, and climbing beans— feature torso-sized seed shapes hanging from the ceiling in woven nets. 
“There are many entry points to this piece,” says Caycedo, “and the different seeds draw inspiration from activists like Máxima Acuña,” who fought against the impact of mines in her territory in Peru.

In its brief showcase, Life on Earth is able to give audiences a quick, but in-depth, glimpse behind the intentions and impact of Ecofeminism. By providing visitors with a wide range of interconnected, yet unique, mediums, we can look forward to what’s to come from Taft’s team at The Brick. 

On view until December 21st, 2024, the exhibition will travel to West Den Haag in The Hague, Netherlands in early 2025, in addition to a collaborative symposium held with West Den Haag and the alternative Seoul-based art space Loop on Ecofeminism, hosted on November 16th.