Faith Wilding's Fearful Symmetries

Deeply influenced by studies of female iconology, the medieval, the subconscious and hybrid bodies, Faith Wilding's art is instantly recognisable. In keeping with Wilding's own artworks, this book is a bricolage: memoirs and watercolours sit alongside critical essays and family photographs to form an overall history of both Wilding's life and works as well as the wider feminist art movement of the 1970s and beyond.  

This collection spans fifty years of Wilding's artistic production, feminist art pedagogy and participation in, and organising of, feminist art collectives, such as the Feminist Art Program, Womanhouse, Womanspace Gallery and the Woman's Building. Featuring contributions from scholars and artists, including Amelia Jones, the book is the first of its kind to celebrate the career of an artist who helped shape the feminist art of today. Intimate, philosophical and insightful, Faith Wilding's Fearful Symmetries is a beautiful book intended for artists, scholars and a broader audience.

Shannon R. Stratton is an artist, curator, and writer. She cofounded the artist-run organization Threewalls, Chicago, and is currently the William and Mildred Lasdon Chief Curator at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York.

Faith Wilding emigrated to the United States in 1961 from Paraguay. She received her MFA at CalArts where she was a founding member of the Feminist Art Program. Wilding is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work addresses aspects of the somatic, psychic, and sociopolitical history of the body. Recent publications, lectures, exhibitions and performances focus on issues of cyberfeminist (women and technology) theory and practice, with particular emphasis on biotechnology. Wilding has exhibited and lectured widely in the USA and Europe. Her audio work has been commissioned and broadcast by RIAS Berlin; WDR Cologne; and National Public Radio, USA. Wilding has published in MEANING, Heresies, Ms. Magazine, The Power of Feminist Art, and other books and magazines. She is the recipient of two individual media grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. Currently, Wilding is a faculty member at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the MFA in Visual Art Program at Vermont College of the Union Institute and University.