Looking with a Feminist Eye: Swedish Photography and the Politics of the Gaze (1970s–1990s)
Presentation Type
Event
Start Date
8-3-2026 7:30 AM
Description
From the late 1960s, the Swedish photographic scene was largely shaped by socially oriented documentary practices. Yet, several pioneering women photographers emerged during this period, challenging dominant visual conventions and opening new critical perspectives on the representation of women. Departing from traditional Swedish photographic idioms, they explored more experimental and explicitly artistic approaches, developing highly personal visual languages. Their work engages deeply with themes of the body, sexuality, and femininity, questioning the power relations embedded in photographic imagery. Rather than merely documenting reality, these artists used photography as a space of reflection, ambiguity, and resistance. This presentation examines key works by several Swedish women photographers active between the 1970s and 1990s and analyzes the strategies through which they negotiated the politics of the gaze. Their practices will be discussed within a broader transnational feminist context, in dialogue with global debates on gender and art of the same period.
Ekaterina Skorokhodova is a Paris-based doctoral researcher and independent curator whose work explores the intersections between contemporary art, politics, gender theory, and visual aesthetics. She studied in the first cohort (2018–2020) of the international, interdisciplinary MA Curating programme at Aarhus University, Denmark. She is currently a PhD candidate in Art History at Paris Nanterre University (France), in co-supervision with the University of Applied Arts Vienna (Austria). Her doctoral dissertation is entitled: Four Female or Feminist Strategies in Swedish Photography, 1970–2000: Agneta Ekman, Eva Klasson, Tuija Lindström, and Annika von Hausswolff.
Relational Format
Conference proceeding
Recommended Citation
Skorokhodova, Ekaterina, "Looking with a Feminist Eye: Swedish Photography and the Politics of the Gaze (1970s–1990s)" (2026). Women of Photography: A 24-Hour Conference-a-thon Celebrating International Women’s Day. 16.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/womenofphotography/2026/schedule/16
Looking with a Feminist Eye: Swedish Photography and the Politics of the Gaze (1970s–1990s)
From the late 1960s, the Swedish photographic scene was largely shaped by socially oriented documentary practices. Yet, several pioneering women photographers emerged during this period, challenging dominant visual conventions and opening new critical perspectives on the representation of women. Departing from traditional Swedish photographic idioms, they explored more experimental and explicitly artistic approaches, developing highly personal visual languages. Their work engages deeply with themes of the body, sexuality, and femininity, questioning the power relations embedded in photographic imagery. Rather than merely documenting reality, these artists used photography as a space of reflection, ambiguity, and resistance. This presentation examines key works by several Swedish women photographers active between the 1970s and 1990s and analyzes the strategies through which they negotiated the politics of the gaze. Their practices will be discussed within a broader transnational feminist context, in dialogue with global debates on gender and art of the same period.
Ekaterina Skorokhodova is a Paris-based doctoral researcher and independent curator whose work explores the intersections between contemporary art, politics, gender theory, and visual aesthetics. She studied in the first cohort (2018–2020) of the international, interdisciplinary MA Curating programme at Aarhus University, Denmark. She is currently a PhD candidate in Art History at Paris Nanterre University (France), in co-supervision with the University of Applied Arts Vienna (Austria). Her doctoral dissertation is entitled: Four Female or Feminist Strategies in Swedish Photography, 1970–2000: Agneta Ekman, Eva Klasson, Tuija Lindström, and Annika von Hausswolff.