That Uppity Theatre Company Presents
"Women's Bodies, Women's Lives"
at the Mildred Kemper Art Museum on Friday, Jan 21st

Following a panel discussion from 4-6 on Friday, That Uppity Theatre Company presented a series of short performance pieces for the opening of the art exhibit, "Inside Out Loud: Visualizing Women's Health in Contemporary Art" on Friday, Jan 21 at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum (formerly the Washington University Gallery of Art) on Forsyth, off Skinker. This free performance was a one night only event and took place at 6:15 and 7 PM throughout the exhibition space.

Collaboratively created with Joan Lipkin, artistic director of That Uppity Theatre Company, an ensemble of some of St. Louis's leading choreographers, dancers, and performers created a series of scenarios affecting women's experiences, including work environments, aging, pregnancy, gender roles, sexuality and body image.

The ensemble for these site-specific performances called "Women's Bodies, Women's Lives" included Wendy Ballard, Summer Beasley, Kendra Eliott, Beth Hill, Louise Hung, Dawn Karlovsky, Tamara Kelly, Ashley Nanney, and Mary Ann Rund.

This is the first significant survey of contemporary American art to explore critical issues related to women's health. Inside Out Loud consists of 51 artworks on loan from across the country by 30 artists in a range of media, including painting, sculpture, photography, installation, video, digital, and performance art. It features established artists such as Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Tony Oursler, and Cindy Sherman, as well as younger talents Nina Katchadourian, Victoria Vesna, and others.

In the past 25 years, the subject of women's health has gained recognition across a spectrum of American culture. The term "women's health" officially entered the Index Medicus in 1991, the same year that the Office on Women's Health became an official branch of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Curated by Janine Mileaf, Swarthmore College, Inside Out Loud explores the parallel rise in the representation of women's health in the sphere of visual art, addressing such topics as breast cancer, AIDS, reproductive rights and technology, beauty, and aging.

"The visual work at the exhibit is very strong. Our intention is to use performance, which is three dimensional and movement based to provoke additional questions about the exhibited work and to suggest connections," says Lipkin. "We identified various themes in the exhibit and will literally be performing next to specific works of art. We are delighted to partner with the Kemper on this groundbreaking project and to help launch participation of over 60 exhibit related events."

Visualizing Women's Health in Contemporary Art will run January 21-April 24, 2005.