Unfolding histories of art
We are committed to supporting artist-women past, present and future - changing future histories and filling in the gaps of those art histories omitted and promoting future artist legacies.
We go beyond the transactional relationship of exposure, promotion and sales. We understand the importance of a presence and legacy in histories of art for years to come. We are embedded in contemporary art historical scholarship where we teach and use our networks to secure writing commissions about artist’s work. We work with artist-women whose works have been historically marginalised or have been omitted from the artistic canon.
Our Patron
Griselda Pollock
Professor Griselda Pollock is a feminist art historian, teacher and exhibition maker, intervening in art’s histories as well as curatorial thinking and practice since the early 1970s. Now Professor emerita of Social and Critical Histories of Art at the University of Leeds, where she also founded and directed the transdisciplinary Centre for Cultural Analysis, Theory and History. She has written extensively on historical and contemporary art exploring the critical contributions of artist-women to art and thought. She challenges the injuries of class, race, gender, sexuality and geopolitical difference. For her dedicated work as a feminist social art historian and cultural theorist she was awarded the Holberg Prize in 2020 and CAA Life-time Achievement Award for Writing on Art in 2023, the Nessim Habif World Prize (University of Geneva , 2024).
Founders
Vashti Cassinelli & Ella S Mills
Vashti Cassinelli is a contemporary art curator and founder of Southcombe Barn, a contemporary arts and artist residency space. Southcombe Barn was developed at Vashti’s home on Dartmoor as a space committed to offering an inspiring, nurturing and grounded environment for artists to develop ideas and connections between landscapes, communities, here and beyond borders. Vashti’s research background is in gender and sexuality. She has undertaken an MFA at Royal College of Art London in curatorial practice focusing on artist-women and their future legacies, exploring cross-temporal curatorial practice as a way of reactivating the archive through her final research project.
Dr Ella S Mills has been embedded in the contemporary art industry and academia for 20 years. As a scholar and curator Ella offers a unique model of artist support and advising combining conceptual, critical thinking with practical professional guidance and networking. Her research and regular speaking invitations have included the National Gallery, V&A, Royal Academy, Bluecoat Liverpool and Modern Art Oxford. Ella was a member of the Black Artists and Modernism Project, led by Sonia Boyce, a project culminating in the BBC4 documentary Whoever Heard of a Black Artist. In addition to her artist consulting and guidance Ella also lectures in Fine Art and History of Art of the University of Plymouth and is creative director of curating practice talking on corners with artist printmaker Lorna Rose.