Ann Leda Shapiro, whose feminist art was once censored, holds Hong Kong exhibition
Ann Leda Shapiro’s exhibition at Axel Vervoordt Gallery shows how her art combines her politics with traditional Chinese medicine concepts
American artist Ann Leda Shapiro was right in the thick of it when art, war, feminism and the Aids epidemic collided in the 20th century.
A few years ago, Shapiro revealed that she was a member of the feminist artist collective Guerrilla Girls in the 1980s, and that she came up with the iconic gorilla masks that protected the anonymity of members after she once accidentally misspelt the group’s name as “Gorilla”.
Recently, the 79-year-old former beatnik and hippie was at Hong Kong’s Axel Vervoordt Gallery for the opening of her first solo exhibition in Asia, featuring a new watercolour series titled “Body is Landscape”.
“I grew up when we thought we could change the world, where people helped each other and kindness was natural,” she tells the Post, reflecting on the current political landscape.
This is why she continues to infuse her art with ideas from her TCM healing practice and her political beliefs.