Bed of Roses

Artists: Cyndra MacDowall, Susie King, Kim Fullerton, Irene Grainger and Terrie Constantino

Date: February 7 to 23, 1991

Artist's Lecture: February 8, by Cyndra MacDowall

An affirmation of women's sexual imagery in photographs by five Toronto artists; Terrie Costantino, Irene Grainger, Kim Fullerton, Susie King and Cyndra MacDowall.

The Bed of Roses exhibition evolved from a workshop known as the Women's Sexually Imagery Project. The idea for the workshop began when a number of women who were active in the fight against censorship started discussion about the challenges involved in the production and display of sexual imagery. The difficulties seem to spring from several sources: restrictive censorship laws keep mainstream porn flourishing while discouraging exploration of sexual imagery from any point of difference; many women are unable to identify their own desires and to separate them from their desire to please; many women have a fear of being overtly sexual in public, and some fearing being cast in the role of the exploiter when attempting to deal with these questions through image production.