Live Dangerously

Conventional art historical representations of female figures have traditionally shown women passively linked to the landscape through gendered associations of nature, eroticism and fertility. In contrast, “Live Dangerously” presents fierce, dreamy and witty images of women presiding over the landscape—all through the lens of the female gaze. From the literally groundbreaking work of Ana Mendieta to the first-ever installation of all 100 large-scale photographs in Janaina Tschäpe’s series “100 Little Deaths” (1996–2002), the artists illuminate the planet’s surface as a stunning stage for human drama. Coinciding with the exhibition “Judy Chicago—The End: A Meditation on Death and Extinction,” the works in “Live Dangerously” are drawn from the museum’s collection of modern and contemporary photography and enhanced by loans that illuminate the place of landscape in the construction of personal histories and identities.

Image: Janaina Tschäpe, Frick Park, from the series “100 Little Deaths,” 2000; Chromogenic color print, 31 x 47 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Heather and Tony Podesta Collection; © Janaina Tschäpe; Image courtesy of Janaina Tschäpe studio