The Future is Female 8 Twyla artists who explore identity and what it means to be a woman.

In honor of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, we bring you a selection of Twyla artists who examine topics surrounding feminism and women’s issues. Whether challenging cultural norms around the world or deconstructing images of women in popular culture, these artists show us that the future truly is female.


1 / Natalie White

Natalie White is a provocative and progressive feminist artist who explores her own identity through the lens of a camera, most notably with giant self-portrait Polaroids. Her pieces span performance, video, painting, and photography, while using the female form to draw attention to gender inequality.


Abstract Ecsta-stentialism.
Remote Entanglement.
The Erotic Politician.

2 / Amelie Chabannes

Amelie’s art looks at notions of identity and its different portrayals through philosophy, psychology, and art history. Much of her work displays her interest in fusional relationships, where two people are attached at the hip, resulting in the destruction of the individual. In her portrait of Bessie Coleman, the first African-American female pilot, Amelie captures the young aviator's fearlessness and resolve. Interesting side note: Amelie is currently working on a documentary project celebrating the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage.



Her He Her He.
Only One is a Wanderer.
Unladylike, Bessie Coleman and a Room of Her Own.

3 / Kristen Schiele

Kristen incorporates movie stills, vintage magazines, library print-outs and her own photographs into her works and often makes reference to fascinating and prominent women in her work. For example, in Melanie Malone, Kristen pays tribute to a 80s punk rocker and drummer and incorporates a graphic mix of nostalgia, punk feminism and heavy metal vibes.



Pocahontas.
Spirit Girls.
Melanie Malone.

4 / Pamela Joseph

Pamela’s paintings, Censored, were inspired by edited Iranian art books. Any representation of nudity in these books, including works by artists such as Picasso, Hockney and Matisse, are rendered illegible, either blacked-out by hand or pixilated in printing.


Censored Small Fountain by Duchamp (Tan).
Censored Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 3) by Duchamp.
Censored The Valpinçon Bather by Ingres.

5 / Chanel Kennebrew

Chanel’s mixed media work is consistently inspired by contemporary events and culture. Using a plethora of mediums and collage techniques, she creates scenes heavily influenced by fashion and advertising, inviting us to examine societal standards and ideals and encouraging viewers. Chanel has described her work as "encouraging viewers (particularly marginalized viewers) to be fearless, take up more space and push walls."



Be Free.
Menage a Trois on Mars.
Hyphenated Part 2.

6 / Miru Kim

Miru’s nude self-portraits are daring, often captured in dangerous places where the naked female body is considered unlawful. For her series, “The Camels Way,” Miru traveled with local nomads across the deserts of Mali, Morocco, India, Jordan, and Mongolia, often disguised as a man.



Khongoryn Els, Mongolia, Gobi 1.
White Desert, Egypt, Sahara 1.
Manhattan Bridge, New York, NY, USA #2.

7 / Kim McCarty

Kim uses a watercoloring technique called wet-on-wet in order to achieve her soft and ghostly images, often portraits of women. This method produces extremely unpredictable, yet magical results as colors are flow into each other and the subjects almost appear to be on the verge of disappearance.



Long Hair Yellow.
Untitled.

8 / Alette Simmons-Jimenez

Alette’s work focuses on the coexistence of opposite forces, dreams and reality, and our individual roles in the larger universe. She sites one of the main sources of inspiration as her children; this can be undoubtedly seen in her large-scale images of bird’s nests, which  celebrate an iconic symbol of motherhood.



Nest, I.
Nest, II.