The Four Ages of Women: Pushing for gender equality in museums

Bethlem Museum of the Mind’s exhibition explores female artists’ perspectives on their own lives, bodies and mental health.

Women have been often represented from the gaze of men, without leaving enough room for female artists. Bethlem Museum of the Mind is trying to level this inequality by bringing the spotlight to women with the exhibition The Four Ages of Women, which has been extended by a week to May 2.

“The permanent collection that we have is very strongly represented by women, so with this exhibition, I wanted to bring that to the forefront,” said Rebecca Raybone, registrar at the museum.

In London, 78 per cent of galleries represent more male than female artists, and only five per cent represent them equally, according to Tate Modern.

The Four Ages of Women’s intention is to highlight female artists from different backgrounds who have used art to document personal experiences and to address social issues.

Lisa Biles’s Make Me Beautiful, critiques societal beauty standards by assembling together a picture of a woman with magazine cuttings, intending to show social media’s consequences on individuals.

“I would deal with my frustration through the magazine, I would tear and rip and create a new piece of artwork out of nothing,” said the 41-year-old artist.

Talking about the exhibition, Biles said: “I think it makes an important statement, that we all are strong and powerful, we aren’t just to be looked upon like sex objects.”