Embodiments: a brief approach to Portuguese women video art

Abstract

The Act Out event is organized around the work of today’s Nordic women video artists, but in this essay I would like to propose a feminist approach to a number of video pieces by Portuguese women artists concerning issues related to gender, class and nationality, among other social-political themes, which they have in common with their Nordic counterparts joining us here today. There's not a long history of Portuguese video art or a Portuguese women's video art tradition related to feminist issues, like in Northern European countries. However, it's possible to trace features in contemporary Portuguese women video works to the third wave inclusive feminisms, namely the importance of women identities' multiplicity and difference and the complex interrelatedness between codings of gender, race, nationality, language, class, etc.