“DO NOT WAIT FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO COME AND SPEAK FOR YOU. IT’S YOU WHO CAN CHANGE THE WORLD”

Malala Yousafzai

Suzanne Valada

Suzanne Valada (23 September 1865 – 7 April 1938) was a French painter and artists’ model who was born Marie-Clémentine Valadon at Bessines-sur-Gartempe, Haute-Vienne, France. In 1894, Valadon became the first woman painter admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. The subjects of her drawings and paintings included mostly female nudes, female portraits, still lifes, and landscapes. She never attended the academy and was never confined within a tradition.

Georgia O’Keeffe

One of the first female painters to achieve worldwide acclaim from critics and the general public, Georgia O’Keeffe was an American painter who created innovative impressionist images that challenged perceptions and evolved constantly throughout her career.

Frida Kahlo

A Mexican painter and activist born in Mexico City in 1907, her work has been celebrated internationally as emblematic of Mexican national and indigenous traditions and by feminists for its honest depiction of female experience.

Queenie McKenzie

Queenie McKenzie was born in 1920 and is considered one of the best contemporary Indigenous Australian artists. She was declared a “State Living Treasure” the year of her death in 1998. Queenie was never taken from her family as part of the official policy of assimilation. With no mission education, her background is truly that of a traditional Aboriginal, having spent her childhood being taught the practical knowledge of managing cattle and riding horses.

Yayoi Kusamen

Japanese artist who was a self-described “obsessional artist.” … Before leaving Japan, she destroyed many of her early paintings. Her early work in New York City included what she called “infinity net” paintings. She opened an art gallery but found the conservative lifestyle in Japan too mentally draining and admitted herself to a mental hospital in Shinjuku, Tokyo, where she still lives today. Her work encompassed pop art, minimalism and feminist art movements. She has exhibited all over the world and is known for her dotted, large landscapes. Her studio is a short distance from the hospital and she works there almost daily.

Shirin Neshat

She is an artist who was born in Iran in 1957 to a wealthy Persian family of five children. Her father was a firm believer in education. He sent all the children all over the world in pursuit of higher education, so Neshat traveled to California to study and received her BA, BS and MA. She moved to New York City to get married and didn’t return to her birth country until after the Iranian Revolution. The shock of seeing her country so changed by religion, especially in people’s dress and public behaviors, sparked her first mature body of work.

Tracey Rose

Tracey Rose is a South African artist who lives and works in Johannesburg. Rose is best known for her performances, video installations, and photographs. Her work as a contemporary multimedia artist and feminist usually showcases her multicultural ancestry and her history growing up as a mixed race person in South Africa. Rose’s photos, illustrations and performances illustrate the disparities of her political and social landscape.