Conversation with Barbara Steveni, London, 2002

In this conversation, Barbara Steveni reflects on her longstanding work through a feminist lens: “I never set out to make feminist art… communication is central to everything I do; without exchange, there is no movement, no transformation.” She emphasizes that the approach is inherently more textured and inclusive in feminist practices compared to traditional hierarchical male structures: “The structures we were working within were inherently male, hierarchical—I wanted to introduce something more open, more fluid.”

Steveni discusses her involvement in the Artist Placement Group (APG): “In the early days of the APG, I was doing the negotiating, the research, the groundwork—yet I wasn’t fully asserting myself within it until much later…” She stresses the lack of female representation in the avant-garde art scene during the 1960s: “Yoko Ono was part of some of the collaborative events I was involved in.” Steveni also references other women artists working at the time, including Rose Finn-Kelcey: “There were so few women in the avant-garde scene then; we were present, but not always seen or acknowledged.”
She touches on the broader implications of gender identity and feminist theory: “Feminism, to me, is not a separate category of art—it must be woven into the fabric of artistic and social discourse.” She critiques how “corporate and administrative systems have taken feminist strategies and repackaged them, stripping away their radical potential.”

The conversation shifts to the commodification of women’s bodies, which she frames as a human rights issue rather than strictly a feminist one: “I know it’s about women, but it’s about the unfairness of lack of rights.” Steveni is skeptical about the effectiveness of politically correct art when it aligns too closely with institutional agendas.

Reflecting on her decades of involvement in socially engaged art, she observes the growing interest in such practices. However, she criticizes how art administrations have appropriated concepts pioneered by artists like those in the APG. She reflects on the changing role of artists in a globalized, consumer-driven world, where art is often absorbed into economic and bureaucratic frameworks. She notes that funding structures increasingly push artists into predefined roles, prioritizing compliance over creative risk-taking: “We must remain vigilant, always questioning, always resisting appropriation, and always pushing for real, meaningful change.”