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| Cydonia Logo Image from : cydoniagallery.com |
Based in Dallas, Texas, Cydonia Gallery is a contemporary art gallery led by owner and head curator Briana Williams. The gallery was established as a venue for international programming with a penchant for under-represented artists by former director Hanh Ho. A few years before dialogues about equity and representation made its way to mainstream media, Cydonia Gallery started quietly showing women artists, a lot. And they did it over and over, again, which was unexpected because the space opened with a group show about masculinity. Without explicitly defining its programming as a pro-woman or confining its exhibitions to only showing women artists and feminist ideology, the upstart gallery featured conceptual ideas that happened to be made by women.
In 2016-2017, the gallery featured only women artists in both their gallery and at fairs. Booths at fairs were curated and coordinated based on ideas from their stable. The gallery re-introduced Caroline Mousseau to her native Canada in a solo presentation at Art Toronto 2016. Polish post conceptualist Alicja Bielawska showed in dialogue with Canadian painter Caroline Mousseau at Zona Maco in Mexico City in 2017. The gallery exhibition year started with a video installation from Mexico-city based Julieta Aguinaco, then debuted oversized, ambitious concrete spinning tops by local Sydney Williams, introduced Belgian Elise Eeraerts' ceramic works, and ended with a second solo exhibition for Caroline Mousseau. After nearly 5 years, the gallery graded itself: 71% of its programming showed female artists. 83% of fairs showed female artists. Mousseau, Bielawska, and Eeraerts have since been awarded numerous awards and prizes, with shows and residencies around the world, solidifying the quality of their practices.
None of the shows during the 2016-2017 year or Cydonia Gallery's previous and existing programming addressed womens' issues or feminism directly. Previous director Hanh Ho proved for nearly 5 years that women artists are everywhere, all over the world, that they were accessible, smart, and relevant in thinking about how we live today. While emerging women artists and artists in the contemporary discourse were interested in equity and agency, their work needn't be able their gender. Ideas regarding paints materiality, the direct links from drawing and sculpture, the connection between time and history, reality and perception, and the importance of touch as a sense for understanding. None of these ideas were related to gender. These were interesting ideas that didn't need a agenda other than being conceptually strong.
New director Briana Williams plans to alter the mission slighting by working with an even more diverse roster, but the creative direction demonstrated that the lack of women artist representation within contemporary art isn't due to lack of access or quality. Equity and equality, for the small gallery in Dallas, are only acts of decision-making. Equality doesn't have to be a monumental act of sacrifice of quality.
To learn more, visit www.cydoniagallery.com; www.facebook.com/cydoniagallery; @cydoniagallery; @CydoniaG
