MATERNAL FANTASIES
feminist art collective
The Childlike Empress
Character the film The Neverending Story (dir. Michael Ende, 1984), described as a kind and gentle individual who is pure at heart. Supreme and immortal ruler of the mystical universe of Fantasia.
She was a child herself.
Clarice Lispector
(1920 -1977)
Brazilian novelist and short story writer born into a Jewish-Ukrainian diasporic family. Internationally acclaimed for her innovative way of writing. Inspired the writing of Hélène Cixous, who had a common interest in the experience of feminine writing and exile.
Mother of two children.
Valerie Solanas
(1936-1988)
American radical feminist and writer. Author of S.C.U.M. Manifesto (Society for Cutting Up Men), written in 1967 as a vehement indictment against patriarchal culture in all its forms. Became infamous due to her attempted killing of Andy Warhol in 1968.
No children.
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir
(1930-)
The world's first democratically elected female president, who served as President of Iceland from 1980 to 1996. First woman allowed to adopt a child as a single mother in Iceland. University instructor and artistic director of a theatre company.
Mother of one child.
VALIE EXPORT
(1940-)
Contemporary Austrian artist and pioneer in video, performance, and installation art. Produced one of the most significant bodies of feminist art in the post-war period. Action Pants: Genital Panic (1968) shows Export sitting on a bench with crotchless pants.
Mother of one child.
Mami Wata
Water deity popular in Western, Central and Southern Africa, and in the African diaspora. Has a varying range of representations - as a mermaid or snake - often holding a mirror in her hand. Connected to fertility and healing.
Her spirits are usually represented as female, but can also take on male forms and other genders.
Meret Oppenheim (1913-1985)
Laura Mulvey (1941-)
Marguerite Duras (1914-1996)
STAGING FEMINIST ANCESTORS by MATERNAL FANTASIES (2021)
concept by Magdalena Kallenberger
photography by Magdalena Kallenberger and Hanne Klaas
texts compiled by Maicyra Leão
with thanks to assistant and model: Wim
each member of the collective contributed one “ancestor”.