As part of my PhD I was able to interview a number of WIAC artists who exhibited with the club in the 1960s and 1970s.
The legitimacy of oral history as a reliable source is controversial because of the subjectivity and unreliability
of memory. However, oral history has, since the 1980s, been used more frequently as a methodology for recording those voices that have traditionally been marginalised by written histories.
The purpose of the interviews was to gain insights into how the artists came to the club, their experiences within the organisation, both positive and negative, and to explore their backgrounds. The interviews served as a record of their
artistic lives, how they felt about being a woman in the art world, and to establish if the WIAC helped them maintain contacts, exhibit and further their careers. This was a unique opportunity to engage with art history on a personal level.
Interviewees (work in progress):
Joan Hodes
Sally McLaren
Krysia D. Michna Nowak
Wendy Taylor
Janine Wiedel
Wendy Yeo