International Women's Day is a day dedicated to the fight for equality, participation, and empowerment of women in all areas of society.
Throughout history, many women in different fields have seen their talent hidden behind a male figure. Over the years, and with the continuous struggle of society, we have seen many women fight to gain recognition for their work and leave their mark on this world.
Within the art scene, we highlight 5 names that marked a before and after in the world of art.
1. Esther Ferrer
The work of artist Esther Ferrer (San Sebastián, Spain, 1937) spans performance art, collage, photography, drawing, and sound art. Her work falls within the minimalist and conceptual currents initiated in the 1960s, as well as the feminisms of the era and dematerialized art. Ferrer is one of the main representatives and pioneers of performance art in Spain, as well as a committed feminist whose artistic and theoretical production has contributed to giving visibility to issues associated with women. In 1999, she was one of the two artists who represented Spain at the Venice Biennale; in 2008, she was awarded the National Prize for Plastic Arts; in 2012, the Gure Artea Prize from the Basque Government; in 2014, the MAV (Women in Visual Arts) Prize, the Marie Claire pour l’Art Contemporaine Prize, and the Velázquez Prize.
2. Elena Asins
Elena Asins (Madrid, Spain, 1940) is considered one of the pioneers of cybernetic art in Spain. She brings together the constructive tradition of the 20th-century avant-garde with computer science and information theory of the 1960s, making her one of the pioneers of computer-assisted art in Spain. Linked to some of the most innovative projects in the recent history of Spanish art, such as the Cooperative of Artistic and Craft Production or the Computing Center of the Complutense University of Madrid, Asins has used a wide range of formats and media in her work (from concrete poetry to video, including drawing, sculpture, or installation), always characterized by compositional rigor and formal refinement.
3. Cristina Iglesias
Cristina Iglesias Fernández Berridi (San Sebastián, Spain, 1956) is a sculptor and engraver, recipient of the National Prize for Plastic Arts and one of the most internationally renowned Spanish artists of recent decades. Belonging to a generation of artists who, since the 1980s, have transformed the concept of sculpture within the field of installations, her works reflect an aesthetic vocabulary based on the use of different materials (concrete, alabaster, resin, iron, glass, sometimes combined with plant motifs such as bamboo and fallen leaves) and different techniques (bas-relief, tapestry, or large-format screen printing on silk and copper), and reveal the artist's interest in space, architecture, literature, and geology.
4. Isabel Muñoz
Isabel Muñoz Vilallonga (Barcelona, Spain, 1951) is a Spanish photographer based in Madrid. Isabel Muñoz's images solemnize the body. Concerned with forms and light, Isabel Muñoz shows us detail in close-up. Muñoz discovers sensuality and wants us to approach and re-examine the everyday, inviting us to perfectly perceive what goes unnoticed. The sixth woman elected to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts was a late-blooming photographer who now collects all the awards: the National Photography Prize (2016), two World Press Photos, and the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts.
5. Blanca Muñoz
Blanca Muñoz (Madrid, Spain, 1963) Gonzalo is a Spanish engraver and sculptor. She primarily uses steel and perforated sheet metal, both in her monumental works and in smaller pieces, also incorporating steel wires into her engravings to transform them into sculptures. Blanca Muñoz's sculptural activity has continued with interventions in public spaces, where she has demonstrated that the interaction of materials and precise coloring achieve a perfect adaptation of the sculptures to their surroundings, whether urban or landscape.
