Bow Down: Women in Art

For this special episode of Bow Down, Jennifer Higgie talks to the brilliant singer and songwriter Lianne La Havas about the influence of art – and in particular, Frida Kahlo – on her life and work.

The renowned ceramic artist Dame Magdalene Odundo discusses the life and work of the influential Nigerian potter Ladi Kwali, who taught Odundo in the early 1970s and who face adorns the Nigerian 20 Naira bill.

The artist Sally Smart discusses the life and work of the Australian post-Impressionist artist Bessie Davidson – Smart’s great, great aunt – who migrated to Paris from Adelaide in the early 20th-century.

The fashion designer and curator Duro Olowu discusses the life and work of the American artist and activist Emma Amos, who was the only woman to join the radical African American art collective, Spiral, which was co-founded by Romare Bearden in 1963.

The musician and artist Alison Goldfrapp discusses the life and work of the trailblazing British / Mexican surrealist painter and author, Leonora Carrington, who was born in 1917 in the UK and emigrated to Mexico in the 1940s.  

The artist Amalia Pica discusses the life and work of the 19th-century Argentinean neo-classicist sculptor and inventor, Lola Mora, who trained in Rome and created one of the best-known fountains in Buenos Aires.

The artist and activist Sonia Boyce, who is representing Britain at the 2022 Venice Biennale, discusses issues of race, power and humour in the work of the Berlin-based, radical philosopher and artist Adrian Piper.

Mark Cousins, the writer and director of the new 14-hour documentary Women Make Film discusses the prolific and underrated Russian/Ukrainian filmmaker Kira Muratova, whose wildly imaginative work was censored by the Soviets.

Bow Down – the podcast about significant female artists who deserve our attention – returns for series 2. Presented by Jennifer Higgie, guests include the artists Sonia Boyce, Amalia Pica and Sally Smart; the filmmaker Mark Cousins; the musician Alison Goldfrapp; potter Magdalene Odundo; curator and fashion designer Duro Olowu and the legendary feminist art-historian Griselda Pollock. 

Griselda Pollock, winner of the 2020 Holberg Prize for her ‘profound influence on art history’, discusses the life and work of the Toronto-based artist Vera Frenkel, who for six decades has been a pioneer of new technologies. 

The Hayward Gallery curator, and co-curator of the blockbuster touring exhibition ‘Soul of a Nation’ discusses the life and work of Kathleen Collins, the first African-American woman to write and direct a feature film. 

The London-based artist discusses the life and times of her friend, the late (and overlooked) British surrealist painter, photographer and collage artist, Stella Snead, who lived between New Mexico and India.

The cultural historian, radio presenter and author of Dressed: The Secret Life of Clothes discusses the life and times of the two women founders of London’s Royal Academy, the trail-blazing 18th-century artists Angelica Kauffman and Mary Moser.

The Tate Curator of International Art discusses the life and times of the modernist pioneer Natalia Goncharova, who changed the landscape of avant-garde art in early 20th-century Russia.

The critic and author of the acclaimed memoir Trans discusses the life and work of the radical mid-20th-century surrealist photographer and resistance worker Claude Cahun. 

The renowned film theorist Laura Mulvey – who coined the term 'the male gaze' – discusses the life and work of the influential avant-garde Belgian filmmaker, Chantal Akerman, who died in 2015.

The best-selling novelist and winner of the 2019 James Tait Black Memorial Prize discusses the life and work of the 20th-century American artist Agnes Martin, whose minimalist paintings were inspired by Zen Buddhism.

The 2019 Turner Prize-shortlisted artist Helen Cammock reflects on her fascination with the inspiring 17th-century Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi, who overcame tragic circumstances to become one of the most famous artists of her day.