The title of the Haggerty Museum’s current exhibit, “Reading Women,” is both literal and figurative. The large-scale photographic prints, plus a looped video, and a detailed catalog feature women actually reading. But the exhibition also encourages us to read the women themselves.
"One of the main things that brought me to the 'Reading Women' project was wanting to recognize the influence of women artists and authors on my generation of creative peers," says Brooklyn-based contemporary artist Carrie Schneider.
For Schneider, what was behind the exhibition was a very simple manner of connecting to her friends.
"What I did is I just asked my friends, 'What are you reading? What are you looking at?' And I think it was kind of this really earnest way of wanting to see what was influencing (them)," she explains.
Schneider photographed and filmed one hundred female friends and colleagues in their homes or studios reading texts authored by women. The exhibit includes large scale photographic prints, a four-hour single channel video installation, and a book that is a collection of photos that show each book held open by its reader.
For the artist, presenting these women in such a manner is no coincidence.
"It's not an accident that it is very purposeful in that we're actually watching her consume something intellectual of her own volition in her own self-defined space," says Schneider.
“Reading Women” is on display at the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University through May 22nd.
