Franki Raffles is not a name that rings a bell to many, which is quite frankly a bloody travesty. The Jewish, Lesbian, Marxist-Feminist worked for only around a decade, until her death aged just 39, where she died in childbirth, in 1994. However, throughout her, albeit short, career, she gave the world snapshots, into the lives of women from across the globe. She gave them a voice, portraying them as grounded, gritty, determined and resilient forces for change.
The exhibition dedicated to her at The Baltic is largest ever survey of her work to date and is long overdue if you ask me. The exhibition curators Emma Dean and Baltic’s director, Sarah Munro, couldn’t have picked a more fitting time to release this exhibition. It brings the political parallels between 1980’s Thatcherite Britain and now into sharp focus for all to see. The day to day realities that women face are captured effortlessly through Raffles’ lens, where she took pictures of nurses, teachers and typists. Although the fashion and vocations make the images dated, the actual circumstances under which they were taken mirror today’s society for women a little too well.
"The exhibition curators Emma Dean and Baltic’s director, Sarah Munro, couldn’t have picked a more fitting time to release this exhibition."
Nothing sums up the struggle that is faced by women to negotiate power, silence, gender and class in a woman’s world like Raffles’ best known work- a poster campaign she co-founded - Zero Tolerance, to fight against domestic violence, also featured at the Baltic The posters still pack a punch, documenting the harsh realities of domestic violence. The struggle faced by female survivors, who feel compelled to remain silent, whilst wanting to be listened to is demonstrated so simply in a chilling poster that reads ‘Whoever, wherever, whenever.’ There are moments throughout Raffles’ exhibition where perhaps a nice joyful tonic is required, as it is an overwhelming experience for the senses and emotions alike.
So, whether Raffles was photographing women slaving away in factories across the north, or whether she was capturing the lives of aid workers and midwife’s in Zimbabwe, her work, as well as her own life and death speak volumes about the sheer scale of sacrifices that women make to survive.
Upstairs from Raffles, at the Baltic, lies an exhibition by Hannah Perry (born 1984). She complements the work of Raffles wonderfully. Just as Raffles highlights the harsh realities of manual labour for women, Perry carries this on with a modernised multi-media deep-dive into women’s experiences of class, work and childbirth and the heavy industry of Perry’s native north of England. On a large cinema screen, we see girls pushing prams through shopping centres, girls visiting clinics who are being ignored by over-worked doctors. A pregnant woman is seen in a pole-dancing club this all intercut with molten metal, concrete and the painful sound of industry and the anger of it’s workers, thus, shining a light the complexity of these young women’s lives in a phantasmagorical film collage.
A breathtaking part of the exhibition is the colossal bronze pelvis, sculptured on to scaffolding. This shows the internal processes involved in childbirth as well as reminding and educating those who haven’t been through the process ourselves of the mechanics that come with child-rearing, thus mirroring the harsh condition of manual labour in the north being shown on the screen.
There are times when Perry’s work is hard to digest, like Raffles’ exhibition it is an emotional overload. However, perhaps that is part of Perry and the Baltic’s desire to present the disorientation that comes with a transitional periods in women’s lives. However, when the sculptural and cinematic blend together it allows for a sharp contrast to be shown between men and women’s work as well as highlighting the intense physicality that is involved in both.
Raffles and Perry are two daring, determined, bohemian, feminist creatives. Whose eclectic work demonstrates their clear passion to bring the realities of female life to the forefront of contemporary art.
