Sheilah Wilson Cindy Sherman as Feminist Question Mark

How do we understand artist Cindy Sherman’s work in the context of feminism when she has repeatedly disavowed any relationship to feminism writ large? In this afternoon gallery talk, artist and professor Sheilah Wilson (Denison University) will look at historical and contemporary questions of intent as they relate to Sherman’s depiction of the gendered body in space.

Sheilah Wilson has exhibited her work internationally and been the subject of solo shows including If Becoming This at Antioch College, Ohio (2012); Build Your Altar to this Moment at Enjoy Gallery, New Zealand (2013); and Despair/Despair Not at Nuit Blanche, Toronto (2013). Currently associate professor of studio arts at Denison University, Wilson has been working on projects analyzing the traces between history, story, and the land.

The winner of Judy Chicago’s Through the Flower Foundation “Feminists Under Forty” competition (2008), Wilson has received numerous awards, including a Canada Council Project Grant (2012) and Creative Captial Foundation Scholarship (2007). She has had commissions at Ohio State’s Urban Art Space; Columbia College Chicago; International Balloon Museum, Albuquerque; Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe; and Confederation Centre for the Arts, Canada; as well as residencies at Headlands Center for the Arts, San Francisco, and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Alberta. A founding member of Ortega y Gasset Projects in Brooklyn, she edited the publication Mother Mother; curated and published The Golden Egg (on humor in art); and has a forthcoming essay in Performing Motherhood (Demeter Press). Born in Nova Scotia, Wilson earned a BA at Mount Allison University in English/French (1999), BFA in photography at NSCAD University (2002), and MFA in studio arts at Goldsmiths College, London (2004).