As artists we need to stop making work only for gallery or museum walls, or the coffee tables of collectors.
Zoe Buckman
My mum, Jennie Buckman, was a north London Jew who, with my dad, proudly chose to raise me and my two brothers in Hackney.
I don't think I ever really felt comfortable with photography as my sole medium. But it wasn't really until I became a mother - I really credit that to opening me up artistically, I think because it was such an empowering birth for me - it gave me the confidence to explore different modes of expression.
I have been drawn to India since I was a kid.
I have this ridiculous idea that art should just be for everyone, and everyone should get to enjoy art and it shouldn't be this exclusive thing.
There's a real lack of basic understanding of the female body and the reproductive system.
Tupac was actually pro-choice, which is fantastic. Of course, those moments in rap are few and far between.
I was a big hip hop girl, and still am, I listened to artists like Wu Tang, and K'Naan, but I was a particular fan of Biggie and Tupac.
When I became older and started to become more in tune with my political leanings, there was a disconnect between the feminist in me and the hip hop side of me, and I don't know if, in some way, those influences are also present in Tupac's work.
People will email me and text me if they've found an amazing loo. I'm like, 'How was the food?' They'll say, 'Fine, but you have to check out the loo.'
Becoming a mother really put me in touch with not just my mortality but also my baby's mortality. You spent nine months working on this thing, and it's finally there, and the first thing you think about is, 'I don't want my child to die.'
My art should have a lightness and sweetness. Especially since it has heavy and triggering subject matters, I prefer to present it in a way that's palatable and draws people in.
I don't like putting the female form behind glass or on a wall, further objectifying it as much as art does.
My journey with grief, with learning how to grow through it, rather than get over it, will be a lifelong one.
I'm someone who lives with the work of artists I've been lucky enough to know or trade with.
Cutting out images you like from art books and framing them is a great way of getting beautiful works on your wall. You can also frame magazine images or pick up inexpensive art at museum gift shops.
I was obsessed with American hip-hop as a teenager.
It was super-important to me that I would be able to make work out of my home.
My work is always on display, and my life is always on display when I make my work.
I cook a lot more now that my studio is in my home.
I knew I wouldn't be able to afford to rent a studio as well as get a home that I was excited about. So I was like, if I can do both in one, I can just about make it work.
I'm hoping to raise a little consciousness and shine some light on the idea of responsibility.
Well, I don't like shooting in bathrooms. They're small and cramped and you've got harsh surfaces and it's difficult.
I thought having to explain the risibility of gender codes would be mostly behind us by now.
For me, boxing was a way of me exercising my frustration, anger, sense of injustice, but also a way of owning my space and taking up space. Which I think as a woman in the art world is essential for surviving. You have to become comfortable going like, 'OK, I'm going to take this wall, this wall is mine, I'm going to put my work on this wall.'
Boxing was really cathartic for me.
I don't think that you have to always present as angry, masculine, aggressive to be a feminist.
I want to reduce the stigma of the word 'feminism.' It's not about eliminating and excluding. You can be yourself and still be a feminist.
I grew up in a feminist household in Hackney, East London, my mum was responsible in many ways for the feminist stain on the socialist party, and my dad had really strong feminist leanings.
I'm atypical in my personal life, my situation is not that of the average struggling artist, and so I feel like I have to work even harder to prove myself and let the work speak for itself. At the same time, I'm not prepared to hide who I truly am.
It wasn't until I became a mother that I started to refer to myself as an artist as opposed to a fine art photographer.
I attended the Women's March on Washington with a group of artists, curators, and art-world professionals.
People abandon you because they can't handle the depth and complexity of your experience, and that is ultimately a gift. It shows you what is important, who is important, and who is really, truly in your corner.
Caring for someone who is terminally ill is traumatic, but it's a privilege too. It's part of being a woman.
I'm a Brit, so I come from a country where in the run-up to a general election, no one talks about abortion.
The process of learning how to defend my body, how to own my space and take away space from other people, and getting me in touch with my masculine, testosterone-heavy side, from a personal development standpoint, it was really helpful to me - as well as releasing aggression and frustration.
It's so difficult as a female artist to make actual money, in my experience.
One thing to remember is that human beings connect through vulnerability. That's our core way of connecting.
Our consciousness wants to connect through struggle and even pain. So in a funny sort of way, vulnerability is attractive.
For me, 'Jewishness' manifests within my humor, slang, cynicism, culinary tastes, and the spirit of generosity ingrained in me.
