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Feminism has always been an internationalism ever since its enlightenment origins. In 1975, the third great wave of feminism, which had been growing since the 1960s on both sides of the Atlantic, reached a milestone with the declaration of International Women’s Year and the holding in Mexico of the first World Conference on Women under the auspices of the United Nations. This same wave also reached the field of art for the first time, generating an artistic and theoretical practice at the crossroads between art and feminism that acquired international repercussions.
Alongside anti-Franco movements, an incipient feminist movement, of which women artists were also a part, began its journey in the Basque Country to combat the discrimination, oppression and exploitation of women. Thus, the first Basque Country Women’s Conference was held in Leioa in 1977 and the feminist movement, focusing on the exclusion of women artists from art institutions, organised exhibitions such as Emakumeok Gaur in Bilbao (1981, 1983 and 1989). Artists such as Juana Cima, Itziar Elejalde and Juncal Ballestín took part in these shows and began to follow this second path in art, producing new imaginaries and/or questioning the art institution. These artists would also be responsible for creating a large part of the movement’s iconography: posters, leaflets, stickers, etc.
Zeru bat, hamaika bide underscores this context with Bigarren bidea (Second Way), a journey through works and artists that continues the approach taken in Hemen dira hutsunean igeri egindakoak, (Those who swam in the empty space) curated by Garazi Ansa. The works that trace this new route as part of the exhibition on the Museum’s collection include new acquisitions and long-term loans by artists such as Juana Cima, Gema Intxausti, Lucía Onzain, Elena Mendizabal, Estibaliz Sádaba and Azucena Vieites. Their names join others already present in the exhibition, such as Ana Laura Aláez, Miren Arenzana, Esther Ferrer, María Luisa Fernández, Cristina Iglesias, Gabriela Kraviez or Itziar Okariz, among other women artists.
