Carolee Schneemann's Body Politics retrospective at Barbican examines feminist art legacy

The Body Politics retrospective of Carolee Schneemann's work opened at London's Barbican in 2022. Schneemann's 1964 performance Meat Joy features naked dancers covered in paint and raw meat, creating a work that is simultaneously funny, sexy, and alarming. Her 1975 piece Interior Scroll involved extracting a text from her vagina while nude before an audience. Schneemann's 1967 film Fuses documents sexual intimacy with her then-partner through degraded film techniques. The artist described herself primarily as a painter, with works like 1973's Up to and Including Her Limits involving physical engagement with drawing. Schneemann's approach transformed the female body from object to powerful medium, confronting cultural taboos. Her work has been compared to Paul Verhoeven's 1995 film Showgirls for its provocative treatment of female nudity. Critic Chris Kraus noted that 1970s feminist circles often misinterpreted female self-display in art. Schneemann maintained that she wasn't showing her naked body but 'being' her body. The retrospective includes early paintings with thick impasto and 1972's Blood Work Diary documenting her menstrual cycle. Schneemann's later work shifted toward themes of terrorism, death, and war with decreased overt femininity. The exhibition demonstrates how her art acknowledges contradictions in feminine experience. Philippa Snow authored Which As You Know Means Violence about Schneemann's legacy.