The Camera as a Means of Female Empowerment Review of VALIE EXPORT retrospective at C/O Berlin

She is one of the greats on whose shoulders stand all those artists who create what is called feminist art today: a retrospective of the great VALIE EXPORT is on view in Berlin.

By Laura Helena Wurth

We all know this: the female body is a political battleground. Despite Instagram movements such as "body positivity", despite everything that the MeToo movement has stirred – fundamentally, not all that much has changed since the 1970s. Women earn less than men, a woman is killed by her partner or ex-partner almost every third day, and the debate about abortion laws in the USA is more reminiscent of a dystopia like The Handmaid's Tale than modern body politics.

This is why now is exactly the right time for a retrospective of the great action artist, who chose to spell her name in capital letters. She is one of the greats on whose shoulders stand all those artists who create what is called feminist art today.