Section 5

From the mid-1970s onwards, in a time of societal transformation where gender roles were being re-examined, Niki Kanagini focused on an exploration of female identity, remodelling stereotypical portrayals of gender. The artist appropriated objects from household settings – symbols of the gendered division of housework – in order to isolate them from their utilitarian functions and imbue them with new meaning. The “domestic scene,” as she titles the works in this series, emerges as a salient space for critical and aesthetic contemplation, revealing hidden or mysterious aspects of the everyday life of things. The artist also transports private life and tediously exhausting daily household chores, along with their concomitant symbols, into the field of art in ways that are critical and dismissive of traditional divisions between the two spheres. Kanagini’s stance on women’s issues and gender discrimination were clearly shaped by her own personal, familial, and professional circumstances, as an artist mother-of-two responsible for child-rearing and household management on a daily basis.