This lark sips at every pond: women as artist and muse
February - April 2021






An exhibition is not an ending, not a period point to a certain narrative. The way a woman presents herself, through art, curation, or any other avenue, is not an endpoint. Her narrative, as a muse or subverter of the muse, is also its own journey in flux. “This lark sips at every pond” is instead an opening. Six female artists, a curious female curator, and a small space are enough to flute outwards into larger conversations about female representation in art, especially in less established and more grassroots spaces.

Vamika Sinha, Postscript Magazine

Exhibition Publication


Press
Postscript Magazine
Neomania Magazine
Art Dubai
Cake DXB
Global Art Daily

Lying in the wake of decades of artistic progression, the muse today is a concept floating heavily in rapid waters. The earliest origins of the muse are found in Greek mythology where the muses
were 9 goddesses of literature, science, and the arts; from their very inception in 700 BC muses were mystic women who induced men to create.

Later in modern art, muses were the sources of ever-flowing inspiration for the most celebrated male artists (think Stieglitz x Georgia O’Keefe, Lennon x Yoko Ono, Picasso x Dora Maar, and Freud x Celia Paul), all women artists in their own right but all romantically remembered for their relation to masterful men. But the tide is turning, we sit on the crest of a new wave in which the art world begins to build recognition for the multitude of talented female artists creating work today.

This lark sips at every pond platformed six female artists who challenge the dominant narrative of the female as a muse with no agency. Through film, music, painting, photography, poetry, and installation the exhibition asked crucially: what does the muse become when it is diffracted through the eye of a female artist? Where can inspiration
dwell? How can it be tapped? And who can sip from which pond?

Featuring works by the talented Aliyah Alawadhi, Mashael Alsaie, Juletta, Marta Lamovsek, Cristalina Parra, and Amina Yahia This lark sips at every pond was on show at maisan15 for three months in early 2021.

The accompanying exhibition publication features artist interviews, poetry, commissioned writing, and photography. It was edited by Sarah Daher, designed by Maria Daher, and published in an edition of 200 by Farook International Stationery.