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In\xa0Episode\xa010 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the legendary Director of Whitechapel Gallery IWONA BLAZWICK on the radical Brazilian artist ANNA MARIA MAIOLINO!!\n\nAnd WOW is it incredible to hear one of the most important curators in the WORLD today speaking so passionately about one of the greatest Latin American artists \u2013 who also has an unmissable exhibition on right now at\xa0Whitechapel Gallery.\xa0\n\nWith a career spanning five decades and counting, 77 year-old Maiolino works across a multitude of mediums including performance, photography, and sculpture. Born in Italy during WW2, Maiolino emigrated to Venezuela and then Brazil, where she lived in extreme politically unstable times under a dictatorship.\xa0\n\nBut this fuelled Maiolino to make art that reflected these times: hidden away from the authorities, and challenging what it really meant to be a woman in this environment.\xa0\n\nKnown for her blindfolded performances where she avoided treading on hundreds of eggshells to highlight the fragility of life under a dictatorship, sculptures of the body that featured just the basic system to emulate the mere 'existence' of life under a dictatorship, Maiolino also focusses on simple shapes and forms to emphasise the universality of art and clay, substituting it for a language that, as an immigrant, never felt was hers.\xa0\n\nI cannot STRESS how fascinating my chat with the brilliant Iwona Blazwick was. It made me realise so much about what artists do to survive when under political scrutiny, but also how much Mailino's work applies not just to artists, but to the public today.\xa0\n\nWe also discuss Iwona's role as a museum director and what that means in 2019; programming women artists exhibitions now compared to the 80s and 90s; 'exclusion' (such as women and Latin American artists) in the traditional art historical canon; the importance of diversity in institutions; and making shows relevant and accessible for everyone today.\xa0\n\nAnna Maria Maiolino: Making Love Revolutionary is at the Whitechapel Gallery until 12 January:\xa0\nhttps://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/anna-maria-maiolino/\n\nFurther reading: \nhttps://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/ey-exhibition-world-goes-pop/artist-biography/anna-maria-maiolino\nhttps://frieze.com/article/i-allowed-myself-be-eaten-anna-maria-maiolino-cultural-cannibalism-brazil\n\nThank you for listening!!\nThis episode is sponsored by the National Art Pass/ @artfund: https://bit.ly/32HJVDk \nTo receive a free tote bag with your National Art Pass, enter the code GREAT at checkout! \n\nFollow us:\nKaty Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel\nSound editing by @_ellieclifford\nArtwork by @thisisaliceskinner\nMusic by Ben Wetherfield\n\nhttps://www.thegreatwomenartists.com/