Witch Hunt
- – This is a past exhibition
Witch Hunt presents the work of 16 midcareer women artists from 13 countries, who use feminist, queer, and decolonial strategies to investigate current and historical political events, social conditions, and overlooked or suppressed artistic legacies. The artists have demonstrated decades-long commitments to feminist creative practice as a subversive, expansive, and oftentimes collaborative methodology. Together their works provide an opportunity to examine ideas, expand awareness, and encourage dialogue about urgent contemporary issues, such as the body and its vulnerabilities; women’s rights and representation; the erasure of women’s contributions to critical movements and histories; the impact of technologies of surveillance; environmental justice; the queering of political discourse; the imperative for feminist practice to be inclusive and intersectional; and the power of collective action.
The 15 projects in Witch Hunt employ a variety of mediums—painting, sculpture, video, photography, sound, and performance—and consistently argue for the value of a critical feminist perspective within the subject matter, production, and presentation of contemporary art. Witch Hunt asks how artistic practices informed by feminist ideologies can meaningfully amplify debates within contemporary culture and politics. The projects in the exhibition constitute an art of resistance, disrupting cultural discourse and proposing new ways of thinking and enacting change at a moment of unprecedented suffering and upheaval across the globe.
Witch Hunt offers an incisive survey of complex and impactful practices by some of the most influential artists working today and includes newly commissioned works as well as major projects that have yet to be shown on the West Coast or in the United States. Witch Hunt marks the Los Angeles museum debut of Leonor Antunes, Shu Lea Cheang, Minerva Cuevas, Bouchra Khalili, Laura Lima, Otobong Nkanga, and Okwui Okpokwasili.
Artists
Leonor Antunes (Portuguese, b. 1972)
Yael Bartana (Israeli, b. 1970)
Pauline Boudry (Swiss, b. 1972)
& Renate Lorenz (German, b. 1972)
Candice Breitz (South African, b. 1972)
Shu Lea Cheang (American, b. 1954)
Minerva Cuevas (Mexican, b. 1975)
Vaginal Davis (American, b. 1969)
Every Ocean Hughes (formerly Emily Roysdon) (American, b. 1977)
Bouchra Khalili (Moroccan, b. 1975)
Laura Lima (Brazilian, b. 1971)
Teresa Margolles (Mexican, b. 1963)
Otobong Nkanga (Nigerian, b. 1974)
Okwui Okpokwasili (Nigerian American, b. 1972)
Lara Schnitger (Dutch, b. 1969)
Beverly Semmes (American, b. 1958)
The exhibition is a collaboration between the Hammer Museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA), and works are on view at both sites.
Witch Hunt is organized by Connie Butler, Hammer Chief Curator and Anne Ellegood, ICA LA Good Works Executive Director, with Nika Chilewich, Hammer Curatorial Assistant. The exhibition is organized by the Hammer Museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA).
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![Gallery space with a set of short tiered tables and a textile work that depicts a space scene.]()
Witch Hunt, installation view, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, October 10, 2021–January 9, 2022.Photo: Jeff McClane. -
![Gallery space with a textile work of a person on the wall, several small frames, and a work with a dark, rocky, texture.]()
Witch Hunt, installation view, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, October 10, 2021–January 9, 2022.Photo: Jeff McClane. -
![Gallery space with photograph of bodies on the wall, with 4 different colored wigs at the center.]()
Witch Hunt, installation view, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, October 10, 2021–January 9, 2022.Photo: Jeff McClane. -
![A screen showing African women dancing is on the back wall of a dark room, with a wooden structure covered in cellophane that a woman's body is project on to.]()
Witch Hunt, installation view, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, October 10, 2021–January 9, 2022.Photo: Jeff McClane. -
![Gallery space with several long, wooden poles that reach from the floors to the ceilings adorned with woven strings and cylinders.]()
Witch Hunt, installation view, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, October 10, 2021–January 9, 2022.Photo: Jeff McClane. -
![A screen in a dark room shows a 3d animated woman's naked body attached to several electrical cords, among a filed of electronic chips. Red blood cells are projected onto the floor of the room.]()
Witch Hunt, installation view, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, October 10, 2021–January 9, 2022.Photo: Jeff McClane. -
![Two people are working on tables with fabric in an art gallery space.]()
Witch Hunt, installation view, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, October 10, 2021–January 9, 2022.Photo: Jeff McClane. -
![Gallery space with four abstract paintings on the wall and several red, curly-formed sculptures on the ground.]()
Witch Hunt, installation view, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, October 10, 2021–January 9, 2022.Photo: Jeff McClane. -
![A neon sign that says "Patriarchy is History" is on the wall of a dark room, with a screen featuring a video of several women holding guns beside it.]()
Witch Hunt, installation view, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, October 10, 2021–January 9, 2022.Photo: Jeff McClane. -
![A screen in a dark room shows 4 people wearing red and white lying, sitting, and standing on a dark stage.]()
Witch Hunt, installation view, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, October 10, 2021–January 9, 2022.Photo: Jeff McClane. -
![Four rows of silver air conditioners stand stacked on top of each other in a museum lobby.]()
Witch Hunt, installation view, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, October 10, 2021–January 9, 2022.Photo: Jeff McClane. -
![Five small speakers are attached to two white walls in a museum lobby.]()
Witch Hunt, installation view, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, October 10, 2021–January 9, 2022.Photo: Jeff McClane.
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![A neat wall of silver air conditioners are stacked three-high on a dusty street with a teal building in the background]()
Air Conditioners in the open-air market Los Herrajeros, La Chaveña neighborhood, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Citlali Cruz. -
![A young child sits in a corner next to a big teal wall]()
Teresa Margolles, Niña centroamericana en el albergue coordinado por mujeres transgénero "Respetrans," Ciudad Juárez (Central American girl in "Respetrans," a shelter run by transgender women, Ciudad Juárez), 2021Courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, New York. © Teresa Margolles -
![A woman lays on a mattress on the floor of a pink room]()
Teresa Margolles, Transgénero centroamericana descansando a su llegada al albergue coordinado por mujeres transgénero "Respetrans," Ciudad Juárez (Transgender woman from Central America resting upon arrival to "Respetrans," a shelter run by transgender women, Ciudad Juárez), 2021Courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, New York. © Teresa Margolles -
![A long gallery room with a chair-like object in the middle of the room and one wall blocked out by a large hanging artwork]()
Leonor Antunes, Discrepancias con C.P. Leonor Antunes, 2018Mixed media. Dimensions variable. Installation view, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City. Courtesy of the artist and kurimanzutto Mexico City and New York -
![A figure with a jeweled face on a screen before a white platform]()
Pauline Boudry / Renate Lorenz, Telepathic Improvisation, 2017HD video, color, sound, with mixed-media installation. Video: 20 min., installation dimensions variable. Performance: Marwa Arsanios, MPA, Ginger Brooks Takahashi, and Werner Hirsch. Courtesy of the artists; Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam; and Marcelle Alix, Paris. -
![A figure in a plaid shirt holds up a photograph of a face before their face]()
Bouchra Khalili, The Tempest Society, 2017HD Video, color, sound. -
![A circle of women around a table with a large circular light fixture above, and the words What if Women Ruled the World on the wall]()
Yael Bartana, What if Women Ruled the World?, 2017Performance view, FIlmby Aarhus, European Capital of Culture Aarhus 2017, Denmark. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Brigit Kaulfuss. -
![Four figures in orange jumpsuits hold up various protest signs, and a grim reaper stands at the end]()
Candice Breitz, TLDR, 2017Thirteen-channel video installation, color, sound. Room A: 60 min. Loop; room B: approx. 12 hour loop. Featuring interviews with Zoe Black, Connie, Duduzile Dlamini, Emmah, Gabbi, Regina High, Jenny, Jowi, Tenderlove, and Nosipho “Provocative” Vidima. Narrator: Xanny “The Future” Stevens. Grim Reaper: Buhle Nobuzana. Conceived in dialogue with SWEAT (Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce), Cape Town. In memory of Nokuphila Kumalo. Commissioned by the B3 Biennial of the Moving Image, Frankfurt am Main. Courtesy of the artist; Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg and London; Kaufmann Repetto, Milan and New York; and KOW, Berlin. -
![A painting of a figure covered in a teal shroud]()
Beverly Semmes, Helmet, 2018Ink, acrylic over on printed canvas. 70 ½ x 50 in. (210.1 x 127 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Susan Inglett Gallery, New York. -
![A square structure covered in clear film obscures a figure inside, while a projection plays on the wall to the right]()
Okwui Okpokwasili, Poor People's TV Room Solo, 2014/2021Video and mixed-media installation. Dimensions variable. Installation view, New Museum, New York, 2021. Courtesy of the artist. Photo; Paul Jackson 2021 -
![A blue neon sign which reads Patriarchy is History]()
Yael Bartana, Patriarchy is History, 2019Neon.78 1/8 × 72 15/16 in. (198.4 x 185.3 cm). Courtesy of the artist, Annet Gelink Gallery and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv. Photo: Tom Haartsen. -
![A woman in a brown dress sits in an empty theater of green chairs with a handbag on the seat before her]()
Vaginal Davis -
![Several textiles hang from a tall wall made of bars, two tables fill the space]()
Laura Lima, Alfaiataria (Tailor Shop), 2014–2021Mixed media. Dimensions variable. Installation view, Pinacoteca Octágono, São Paulo, 2018. Courtesy of the artist; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Los Angeles and New York; A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro; and Luisa Strina, São Paulo. Photo: Isabelle Matheus. -
![A long black tapestry with a mysterious figure and tree to the left while orbs float in the middle]()
Otobong Nkanga, Double Plot, 2018Woven viscose bas, polyester, bio cotton, cashwool, acrylic, with photography. (265 x 770 cm). Installation view, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Nov 2020 - May 2021. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Øystein Thorvaldsen -
![A green rock floats above an outstretched hand against a black background]()
Otobong Nkanga, In Pursuit of Bling – Desire, 2014Lamda print, (40 x 60cm). Courtesy of the artist -
![A series of painted colorful arms and appendages against a white background]()
Otobong Nkanga, Social Consequences II - Choices We Make, 2009Round stickers and acrylic on paper. 2 parts, 29 x 42 cm). Each. 58 x 42 cm.) total -
![A woman holds up a makeup palette while various objects hang from string around her]()
Every Ocean Hughes, One Big Bag, 2021Single-channel video projection, sound. 45 minutes (approx). Courtesy of the artist.
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