Inside the Forum Where Women in the Arts Are Taking on the Status Quo

"What began as a passion for collecting became a responsibility. She not only believes in the artistic genius of women, but she wants society in general to hold men and women artists in equal esteem-and to place the same monetary value on their work."

"The realization that there is a widely held assumption that male artists are inherently superior to their female peers-sparked by a little boy who saw her collection and expressed surprise that women artists could be so good-became the inspiration for the forum."

"The Making Their Mark Forum, a gathering of artists, curators, dealers, more than 20 museum directors, and other industry professionals dedicated not only to celebrating the achievements of women in the arts, but to changing the very structures of the art world in order to bring about gender equity."

The Making Their Mark Forum brought together 350 women including artists, curators, museum directors, and industry professionals to address gender inequity in the art world. Organized by Komal Shah, a former tech executive and art collector, alongside curators Cecilia Alemani and Loring Randolph, the conference aims to transform institutional structures and establish equal esteem for male and female artists. Shah's initiative began as a personal passion for collecting women's work but evolved into a mission after recognizing societal assumptions about male artistic superiority. The accompanying traveling exhibition, drawn from Shah's collection of 400 works and featuring artists like Joan Mitchell, Faith Ringgold, and Kara Walker, demonstrates women's essential contributions to art history while advocating for equal monetary valuation of their work.

Read at Artnet News