Girls' Night Out
September 16 - December 31, 2005

Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Elina Brotherus, Dorit Cypis, Rineke Dijkstra, Katy Grannan, Sarah Jones,
Kelly Nipper, Daniela Rossell, Shirana Shahbazi, and Salla Tykka.

Girls' Night Out presents photography and video made over the last decade by two generations of female artists who embrace an evocative and poetic approach to identity. The work of this international group of artists shares themes such as youth culture, new notions of beauty, and a lyrical expression of the subjects inner desires, dreams, and aspirations.

The historical context for Girls' Night Out is found in the photography, film, and performance art of women artists of the 1970s and 1980s. While these earlier artists dealt with social and political themes in their work through provocative satire or didacticism, the artists in Girls' Night Out employ very different approaches, creating work that is characterized by its subjectivity and directness of expression. They also share an interest in revitalizing such classical genres as portraiture (especially of young women in the passage from girlhood to adulthood), architectural spaces, and landscape. Formally rigorous and aesthetically resolved, this seemingly traditional imagery is imbued with mystery, complexity, and sometimes even a romantic quality.

The artists in Girls' Night Out offer a multiplicity of glimpses into the personal and social spaces that we inhabit today. Their work confidently explores female identity without the need to challenge or critique feminine archetypes. Here the 'girl' does not represent the feminine per se but instead embodies a vulnerability and at the same time a sense of unbounded potentiality that are essentially human.