‘Woman Writing’ as a Curatorial Method: Narratives of Belonging in the Art Practices of Chantal Peñalosa and Bridget Smith

This chapter traces the contemporary art practices of Chantal Peñalosa (1987, Tecate, Mexico) and Bridget Smith (1966, Essex, England) through a conversation between the artists and the author, a curator. The chapter draws on Kristeva’s (1978) concept of ‘Woman Writing’ and feminist histories of curating to propose a feminist approach to curating that relies on ‘vulnerable listening’ through sustained correspondence and exchange. Through documenting and writing with and through these artists’ practices, their processes of understanding home, place and belonging emerge as ‘epistemic locations’ (Meskimmon, 2020: p 2) – or places of knowing, with their own particular politics.