Aftershocks and (un)belongings: reflecting on 'Home Strike'

Book chapter


Kokoli, A. and Sliwinska, B. 2021. Aftershocks and (un)belongings: reflecting on 'Home Strike'. in: Photiou, M. and Meskimmon, M. (ed.) Art, Borders and Belonging: On Home and Migration London | New York Bloomsbury Visual Arts. pp. 113-136
Chapter titleAftershocks and (un)belongings: reflecting on 'Home Strike'
AuthorsKokoli, A. and Sliwinska, B.
Abstract

In this dialogic chapter, we reflect on our collaborative curation of an exhibition that explored domesticity from feminist dissident perspectives. Featuring work protesting the changes to policy concerning domestic violence in Poland (Malgorzata Markiewicz), subverting, through craft, women’s maintenance of the home as both dwelling and ideal (Su Richardson), unpicking maternal subjectivities while staging a confrontation between feminist and modernist approaches to art history (CANAN), and unsettlingly recasting the home as a site of violence and resistance (Paula Chambers), Home Strike (l’étrangère, 2018) is revisited as both an unfinished inter-generational and transnational project critiquing and defamiliarising the home, and an opportunity for reflection and exchange on the curators’ own lived experiences of migration and patriarchal regimes of space. Personal meditations on (un)belonging, temporary habitats and object attachments are interspersed with critical observations on migration, xenophobia and the neoliberal demand for mobility, particularly in the case of cultural workers. As well as (a) correspondence and dialogic reflection on shared preoccupations, what follows is an exchange of letters working through the aftershocks of our co-curation of an exhibition and opening up new strands of thinking and research into projects yet unrealised. The epistolary form was adopted as a practical and equitable record-keeping of our exchange, but also for its rich tradition in feminist politics and thought: as Margaretta Jolly (2008) eloquently demonstrates, in the Women’s Liberation Movement correspondence both charted the emergence of a new consciousness and sisterly alliances, and became a lab for the development of alternative ways of thinking and engaging with one another. Following recent feminist experimentation, we aspire to occupy the space between ‘letter-writing as a formal convention’ (Meskimmon, 2014, 31) and a dialogical critical feminist methodology of ‘engaged essay-making’ (ibid, 29).

Research GroupCREATE/Feminisms cluster
Page range113-136
Book titleArt, Borders and Belonging: On Home and Migration
EditorsPhotiou, M. and Meskimmon, M.
PublisherBloomsbury Visual Arts
Place of publicationLondon | New York
ISBN
Hardcover9781350203068
Electronic9781350203099
Electronic9781350203075
Electronic9781350203082
Publication dates
Print20 May 2021
Online26 Apr 2021
Publication process dates
Deposited22 Sep 2021
Accepted28 Feb 2019
Output statusPublished
Accepted author manuscript
File Access Level
Open
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350203099.ch-006
LanguageEnglish
Permalink -

https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/897z8

Restricted files

Accepted author manuscript

  • 67
    total views
  • 1
    total downloads
  • 2
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Walking (to) Greenham, again: activating feminist heritage
Kokoli, A. 2024. Walking (to) Greenham, again: activating feminist heritage. Performance Research. 28 (8).
Brides and Madonnas against the Bomb: feminist activist art practices towards nuclear disarmament and more
Kokoli, A. 2024. Brides and Madonnas against the Bomb: feminist activist art practices towards nuclear disarmament and more. Women in Revolt!: Radical acts, contemporary resonances. Tate Britain, London, UK 22 - 23 Mar 2024
Greenham Common’s archival webs: towards a virtual feminist museum
Kokoli, A. 2023. Greenham Common’s archival webs: towards a virtual feminist museum. British Art Studies. (24). https://doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-24/akokoli
EPISODE 163 Alexandra Kokoli: Gender, shame & visual cultures. The Surviving Society Podcast.
Kokoli, A. 2022. EPISODE 163 Alexandra Kokoli: Gender, shame & visual cultures. The Surviving Society Podcast.
The Imaginary of Greenham Common
Kokoli, A. 2022. The Imaginary of Greenham Common. The Imaginary of Greenham Common. Beaconsfield, 22 Newport Street, Vauxhall, London SE11 6AY 20 Aug 2022
Care, aftercare, and the work of transmission: learning from Greenham Common
Kokoli, A. 2023. Care, aftercare, and the work of transmission: learning from Greenham Common. in: Krasny, E. and Perry, L. (ed.) Curating with Care Routledge. pp. 117-130
Trauma and repair in the museum: an introduction
Walsh, M. and Kokoli, A. 2022. Trauma and repair in the museum: an introduction. Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41282-022-00290-4
Reclaimed: The Greenham Common women’s peace camp as quotidian feminist heritage
Kokoli, A. 2022. Reclaimed: The Greenham Common women’s peace camp as quotidian feminist heritage. in: Pratt, K. (ed.) Jemima Brown: Peace Camp West Berkshire Museum.
The aesthetic labour of protest, now and then: The Women’s Peace Camp at Greenham Common (1981-2000)
Kokoli, A. 2021. The aesthetic labour of protest, now and then: The Women’s Peace Camp at Greenham Common (1981-2000). in: Schmahmann, B. (ed.) Iconic Works of Art by Feminists and Gender Activists: Mistress-Pieces Routledge. pp. 22-37
Domestic fronts: arrangements for feminist living, or survival is not a metaphor
Kokoli, A. 2020. Domestic fronts: arrangements for feminist living, or survival is not a metaphor. in: Sliwinska, B. (ed.) Feminist Visual Activism and the Body New York Routledge. pp. 88-103
Witch, Witches, WITCH
Kokoli, A. 2021. Witch, Witches, WITCH.
Read my QR: Quilla Constance and the conceptualist promise of intelligibility
Kokoli, A. 2019. Read my QR: Quilla Constance and the conceptualist promise of intelligibility. in: Aikens, N., lok, s. and Orlando, S. (ed.) Conceptualism - Intersectional Readings, International Framings The Netherlands Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven. pp. 36-53
Crossing borders and other dividers in Western Europe and the British Isles
Kokoli, A. 2019. Crossing borders and other dividers in Western Europe and the British Isles. in: Robinson, H. and Buszek, M. (ed.) A Companion to Feminist Art United Kingdom WileyBlackwell. pp. 127-141
Domestic fronts: towards a feminist survival(ism)
Kokoli, A. 2018. Domestic fronts: towards a feminist survival(ism). Symposium: Feminist Visual Activism. ICA, London 10 Jul 2018
Creative Tensions: Making (it), unmaking, and making do in textiles informed by feminism
Kokoli, A. 2018. Creative Tensions: Making (it), unmaking, and making do in textiles informed by feminism. in: Harris, J. (ed.) A Companion to Textile Culture WileyBlackwell.
Feminist Art Activisms and Artivisms - 2 July 2018, Middlesex University
Deepwell, K., Kokoli, A., Robinson, A., Mullaniff, K., Dick, E., Attwood, F., Leeson, L. and Maude-Roxby, A. 2018. Feminist Art Activisms and Artivisms - 2 July 2018, Middlesex University. Feminist Art Activisms and Artivisms. Middlesex University, London, UK 02 Jul 2018 Middlesex University. https://doi.org/10.22023/mdx.6716054.v1
HOME STRIKE, an exhibition guest-curated by Alexandra Kokoli and Basia Sliwinska, with CANAN, Paula Chambers, Malgorzata Markiewicz and Su Richardson, l'etrangere, 8 March-21 April 2018.
Kokoli, A. and Sliwinska, B. 2018. HOME STRIKE, an exhibition guest-curated by Alexandra Kokoli and Basia Sliwinska, with CANAN, Paula Chambers, Malgorzata Markiewicz and Su Richardson, l'etrangere, 8 March-21 April 2018. l'etrangere, 44a Charlotte Road, London EC2A 3PD 08 Mar - 21 Apr 2018
Unpicking the Canon: Making (it), unmaking, and making do in textiles informed by feminism
Kokoli, A. 2017. Unpicking the Canon: Making (it), unmaking, and making do in textiles informed by feminism. A Feminist Space at Leeds: Looking Back to Think Forward. Leeds University 16 - 17 Dec 2017
Read my QR: Quilla Constance and the conceptualist promise of intelligibility
Kokoli, A. 2017. Read my QR: Quilla Constance and the conceptualist promise of intelligibility. Aikens, N., lok, s. and Orlando, S. (ed.) Conceptualism: Intersectional Readings, International Framings, Black Artists and Modernism (BAM) Conference. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands 07 - 09 Dec 2017 Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven. pp. 36-53
Do textiles think?
Kokoli, A. 2017. Do textiles think? in: Kyprianidou, E. (ed.) Weaving Culture in Europe Nisos. pp. 99-102
Free Lunch with the Stench Wench: towards a synaesthetics of poverty and shame in Catherine Hoffmann’s performance
Kokoli, A. 2018. Free Lunch with the Stench Wench: towards a synaesthetics of poverty and shame in Catherine Hoffmann’s performance. Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy. 33 (3), pp. 485-499. https://doi.org/10.1111/hypa.12399
The writing’s on the wall: #QC against decipherability
Kokoli, A. 2017. The writing’s on the wall: #QC against decipherability. 'Transcending the Signified', Quilla Constance Symposium. Camberwell College of Arts, UAL, London 23 Jun 2017
The ambiguous ambivalence of feminist textiles
Kokoli, A. 2017. The ambiguous ambivalence of feminist textiles. in: Ford, S. (ed.) CUT CLOTH: Contemporary Textiles and Feminism PO Publishing. pp. 60-65
Pre-emptive mourning against the bomb: exploded domesticities in art informed by feminism and anti-nuclear activism
Kokoli, A. 2017. Pre-emptive mourning against the bomb: exploded domesticities in art informed by feminism and anti-nuclear activism. Oxford Art Journal. 40 (1), pp. 153-168. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxartj/kcx004
History or not: addressing omissions in the retelling of art's stories (roundtable discussion)
Kokoli, A., Allen, F., Boyce, S., Budd, A., Hiller, S., Hudek, A. and Sainsbury, A. 2017. History or not: addressing omissions in the retelling of art's stories (roundtable discussion). History or Not: Addressing Omissions in the Retelling of Art's Stories. Raven Row, London, United Kingdom 18 Mar 2017
Tate in Focus: From the Freud Museum 1991–6 by Susan Hiller
Kokoli, A. Kokoli, A. (ed.) 2017. Tate in Focus: From the Freud Museum 1991–6 by Susan Hiller. Tate Research Publication.
Pre-emptive mourning against the bomb: the art and visual culture of feminist anti-nuclear activisms
Kokoli, A. 2016. Pre-emptive mourning against the bomb: the art and visual culture of feminist anti-nuclear activisms. Feminist Perspectives on Artistic Productions and Theories of Art, 5th edition, organised by Xabier Arakistain and Lourdes Mendez. Azkuna Zentroa, Bilbao 28 - 30 Oct 2016
Angry melancholia: towards a performative politics of time in the work of Monica Ross
Kokoli, A. 2016. Angry melancholia: towards a performative politics of time in the work of Monica Ross. in: Monica Ross: Ethical Actions - A Critical Fine Art Practice Berlin Sternberg Press. pp. 22-31
#QC: Read My QR
Kokoli, A. 2016. #QC: Read My QR. Quilla Constance: #QC_Symposium. Toynbee Studios, Artsdmin, 28 Commercial Street, London E1 6AB 10 Mar 2016
Feminism reframed: reflections on art and difference
Kokoli, A., Heath, J., Hemus, R., Chase, A., Roulstone, K., Behm, A., Germann, J., Grant, C., Tate, S., Lauritis, B., Pollock, G. and Swartz, A. Kokoli, A. (ed.) 2008. Feminism reframed: reflections on art and difference. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Pre-emptive mourning (or melancholia)? : the home as tomb in art informed by feminism and anti-nuclear activism
Kokoli, A. 2015. Pre-emptive mourning (or melancholia)? : the home as tomb in art informed by feminism and anti-nuclear activism. House, work, artwork: feminism and Art History's new domesticities. University of Birmingham, Birmingham. United Kingdom 03 - 04 Jul 2015
Uncanny domesticities in art informed by feminist anti-nuclear activism
Kokoli, A. 2016. Uncanny domesticities in art informed by feminist anti-nuclear activism. Artists’ Critical Interventions into Architecture and Urbanism. University of Warwick, United Kingdom 15 - 16 Jul 2016
Interview with Margaret Harrison and participation in roundtable discussion
Kokoli, A., Harrison, M., Farkas, R., Leeson, L. and Maple, S. 2016. Interview with Margaret Harrison and participation in roundtable discussion. The Practicing Feminist. Tate Britain 21 May 2016
Now, then, and again: between anniversary and HERitage
Kokoli, A. 2015. Now, then, and again: between anniversary and HERitage. Day + Gluckman.
The feminist uncanny in theory and art practice
Kokoli, A. 2016. The feminist uncanny in theory and art practice. London Bloomsbury Academic.
What Bear Grylls can’t do: survivalist mediascapes in austerity Britain
Kokoli, A. and Winter, A. 2015. What Bear Grylls can’t do: survivalist mediascapes in austerity Britain. In Media Res: A Media Commons Project Media Commons (http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/).
Not a straight line by a spiral: charting continuity and change in textiles informed by feminism
Kokoli, A. 2014. Not a straight line by a spiral: charting continuity and change in textiles informed by feminism. Image and Text. 23, pp. 110-129.
What a girl’s gotta do: the labour of the biopolitical celebrity in austerity Britain
Kokoli, A. and Winter, A. 2015. What a girl’s gotta do: the labour of the biopolitical celebrity in austerity Britain. Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory. 25 (2), pp. 157-174. https://doi.org/10.1080/0740770X.2015.1057015
Misogyny: Witches and Wicked Bodies
Petherbridge, D., Segal, L., Kokoli, A., Deepwell, K. and Create/Feminism Cluster 2015. Misogyny: Witches and Wicked Bodies. Misogyny: Witches and Wicked Bodies. ICA, London, United Kingdom 18 Mar 2015
The woman artist as curatorial effect
Kokoli, A. 2013. The woman artist as curatorial effect. in: Dimitrakaki, A. and Perry, L. (ed.) Politics in a glass case: feminism, exhibition cultures and curatorial transgressions Liverpool University Press.
On probation: Tracey Emin as sign
Kokoli, A. 2010. On probation: Tracey Emin as sign. Wasafiri. 25 (1), pp. 33-40. https://doi.org/10.1080/02690050903425342
Remembering, repeating and working through in Anniversary – An Act Of Memory by Monica Ross and co-recitors (2008–)
Kokoli, A. 2012. Remembering, repeating and working through in Anniversary – An Act Of Memory by Monica Ross and co-recitors (2008–). Performance Research. 17 (5), pp. 24-30. https://doi.org/10.1080/13528165.2012.728436
The voice as uncanny index in Susan Hiller's The Last Silent Movie
Kokoli, A. 2013. The voice as uncanny index in Susan Hiller's The Last Silent Movie. Art Journal. 72 (2), pp. 6-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043249.2013.10791027
Sisters
Kokoli, A. 2012. Sisters. in: Dickson, R. (ed.) Judy Chicago Lund Humphries. pp. 169-177