This is a book about data - data which exposes the inequity of gender representation in the Australian visual arts sector and the history and impact of the CoUNTess data collection and analysis project. It is also a book about the lives of women artists, writers and academics navigating an asymmetrical art world, where the odds are statistically weighted against them.
CoUNTess is a uniquely Australian project which calls out gender inequity in the art world with biting humour backed by decades of data. Boldly and insightfully written by Melinda Rackham and Elvis Richardson, CoUNTess: Spoiling Illusions Since 2008 offers insights and actions for change. Statistical analysis and cultural and feminist theory chart how the education of artists, the role of galleries and museums, art prizes, magazines, curators, collectors and philanthropists contribute to an art world where women miss out.
From original cheeky anonymous CoUNTess Blog posts to today's collaborative Countess.Report collective interventions, this is vital reading. Design by Elliott Bryce Foulkes and Maria Smit
236 pages, 20 x 28 cm, softcover, Countess.report (Melbourne).