The Political Body Symposium, Panel II - New Topics, New Bodies: The/An Iconographic Turn

Andrea Giunta moderates a discussion with panelists Claudia Calirman, Miguel A. López, María Evelia Marmolejo, and Sylvia Salazar Simpson.

Between the 1960s and 1980s, different creative processes contributed to diverse understandings of the body. Several generations of Latina and Latin American artists elaborated a new perception of the body: one approached from dissident subjectivities with respect to the systems of power that order and normalize sexualities. Their representations questioned the patriarchal and normative canon of “correct” bodies and questioned the social classification of bodies as feminine and masculine. Their productions introduced many new topics and approaches that gave rise to a radical iconographical turn, the largest that has taken place in the 20th century. They contributed thus to a new understanding of the body—indeed new bodies that questioned regulations and correctness—in which we are still immersed. The purpose of this session is to analyze the artistic, academic, and curatorial agendas and languages through which this new body emerged.

This symposium is convened on the occasion of the exhibition Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960-1985. In the symposium, scholars, artists, and curators from around the world convene to consider ideas of radicality, feminism, and the emancipated body.