Photos: Sarah Williamson and her Art Activist Barbie take on the patriarchy
Updated On May 30, 2021 02:53 PM IST
- Sarah Williamson, a senior lecturer at the School of Education and Professional Development, University of Huddersfield, UK, has been protesting against patriarchy quietly and uniquely since November 2018. She takes a Barbie doll to museums and art galleries, props her up in front of exhibits, and puts in her hands a little placard registering her protest — primarily at the objectification of women and the lack of women artists in permanent collections. Williamson calls her doll Art Activist Barbie (AAB) and posts @BarbieReports on Twitter, an account with nearly 16,000 followers. She has always seen the arts as a means to challenge, educate and promote change, she says. A look at some of her work.
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Sarah Williamson, a senior lecturer from the UK, has been using a Barbie doll to protest against patriarchy since November 2018. She calls her doll Art Activist Barbie. Here AAB protests at The National Gallery, London, in March 2021, pointing out that there are 2,300 works by men in the gallery’s permanent collection, and only 21 by women.(Image courtesy: Sarah Williamson)
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Art Activist Barbie points out that even the women that do make it to canvas tend to be forced into passive, peaceable or useful roles — sewing, mending, smiling, reading or, of course, in the nude.(Image courtesy: Sarah Williamson)
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Art Activist Barbie questions the absence of female artists in museums. “No problem being represented if you're nude of course!” she adds.(Image courtesy: Sarah Williamson)
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What kinds of conversations must have gone into commissioning a work like this one? Art Activist Barbie imagines being a fly on the wall, in this June 2020 post.(Image courtesy: Sarah Williamson)
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When she was a child, Williamson’s mother made clothes for her Barbies. Here AAB wears one of the now-vintage coats made by Williamson’s mother in the 1970s. This tweet was posted in March 2020.(Image courtesy: Sarah Williamson)
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In April 2020, Art Activist Barbie invites the viewer to refuse to be merely a muse. This was taken in the Huddersfield Public Art Gallery, in the north of England. Williamson says she uses the photograph quite a lot as she often tweets about artists and their muses.(Image courtesy: Sarah Williamson)
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In a November 2020 post, AAB expresses her disappointment at the fact that a sculpture to commemorate the feminist Mary Wollstonecraft features a nude.(Image courtesy: Sarah Williamson)
