Caroline Coon features in 'Dear Christine'
‘Dear Christine’ aims to reclaim and reframe Christine Keeler (1942-2017), a woman castigated for her role in a notorious political scandal in the 1960s. Aged 19, she was catapulted into the limelight when her affair with John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War, was revealed. The presentation comprises painting, ceramics, sculpture, music, film, photography, poetry, performance, artist talks and workshops.
Exhibition curator Fionn Wilson says: “Christine Keeler is a significant figure in British history yet there is little recent artistic reference to her. I wanted to add to the visual record of her life, which represents themes still relevant to this day, including class, power and the politics of sex. The participating artists are women who offer their own perspective on a narrative that has mostly been led by men.”
Pauline Boty, a founder of the British Pop art movement in the 1960s, painted Keeler in the lost work, ‘Scandal 63’ (1963), and as part of ‘Dear Christine’, artist, feminist and activist Caroline Coon will be exhibiting an homage to the missing painting. Previously unseen photographs will be shown during the exhibition, courtesy of James Birch, a renowned curator and personal friend of Keeler’s. Contributors to the exhibition catalogue include journalist Julie Burchill and Amanda Coe, screenwriter and executive producer of the upcoming BBC series ‘The Trial of Christine Keeler’. The catalogue also includes a foreword from Keeler’s son, Seymour Platt.
Artists featured include: Natalie d’Arbeloff, Helen Billinghurst, Claudia Clare, Caroline Coon, Lucy Cox, Catherine Edmunds, Roxana Halls, Sadie Hennessy, Marguerite Horner, Barbara Howey, Shani Rhys James, Sal Jones, Jowonder, Sadie Lee, Cathy Lomax, Julia Maddison, Sonja Benskin Mesher, Wendy Nelson, Sarah Shaw, Stella Vine and Fionn Wilson.
The exhibition is accompanied by a hardback catalogue with full colour illustrations, essays and poetry, in a limited edition of 100, available for £30. Contributors to the catalogue include: David Astbury, James Birch, Julie Burchill, Sarah Caulfield, Amanda Coe, Tanya Gold, Tara Hanks, Charlotte Innes, Kalliopi Minioudaki, Bo Gorzelak Pedersen and Seymour Platt.
‘Dear Christine’ is part of the Festival of Women, produced by the Women of Tyneside project, a two-year community project at Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM), funded by Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund, which celebrates women and girls across Tyneside and works to identify and explore contemporary social issues relating to women and gender equality. Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and Arts Council of Wales. ‘Dear Christine’ will tour to Elysium Gallery, Swansea, 5 October – 9 November 2019, and Arthouse1, London, 2-29 February 2020.
Taking place on Saturday 1 June, 2-4pm to coincide with the exhibition, Caroline Coon presents ‘I AM WHORE’, a talk examining themes including the shaming of women in a misogynist culture that punishes women for displaying sexual behaviour. As part of the discussion, the Divide and Rule questions she will ask are: what will we do, in the system of patriarchy, to stop men dividing women against each other the better to rule over us? Who will stand shoulder to shoulder with us whores?
