Dreamers Awake

Various Artists

White Cube Bermondsey

28 JUNE - 17 SEPTEMBER 2017

Free

Dreamers Awake, a paraphrase of Sigmund Freud's claim "the madman is a dreamer awake", explores more than fifty female Artist's take on Surrealism. A mixture of sculpture, painting, collage, photography and drawing, the exhibition is highly varied and works date from present day back to the early 1930s.

Gender politics prevail throughout the exhibition: Surrealism is largely thought of as a male artform, female's merely being the subject matter of certain masterpieces. The woman is sexualised and ostracised in male surrealist works, making her both an object of desire and lust whilst simultaneously an object to be abhorred and rejected. Alike the unconscious mind, the female gender is hidden in society - from being physically hidden in the domestic sphere, to metaphorically hidden in the glass ceiling analogy of gender inequality which still remains. It is then inevitable that women took a large interest in the movement.

The exhibition aims to take the female out of the subject matter and into the body of the creator - it shows that women can mould, not just be moulded. Particular works which stood out to me were the room of Tracey Emin's penis portraits (located in the second room of South Gallery I). Titled things such as "I held your sperm and cried", "When my cunt stopped living" and "A million ways to cum", Emin's work, as per usual, is out to grasp the viewer, and shock. A tiny female figure rests on large erect penises, physically displaying the surrealist phallice as a dominating and overpowering force - whilst the woman remains inferior and delicate.

Another coupling of works by Sascha Brauing, caught my attention due to their relation with a woman's place in society. At first unrecognisable, once the titles of "Chameleon" and "Lashes" are mentioned the viewer is immediately able to recognise the deeper meaning of Brauing's works. Chameleon enforces the idea that a woman is encouraged to blend in, women who stand out are still today criticised for brashness and immodesty. Lashes evokes connotations with the beauty industry, and the painful expectations women are pressured to adhere to when it comes to personal appearance. The lashes appear to being ripped off, revealing a completely different image beneath - therefore symbolising the fake, idealised 'other' which girls are told to morph into from a young age.

The exhibition is enlightening, fun and free! The White Cube is a gorgeous gallery located on the lovely Bermondesy Street (a great place to grab lunch). The exhibition is thoroughly enjoyable and allowed the feminine side of Surrealism to shine through, also allowing female artists to express a voice which still manages to be silenced today.