Contemporary Artist- Linder Sterling

Linder Sterling (known as Linder) is a British artist, born in Liverpool in 1954. She is best known for her photo collages that deal with radical feminist ideas and her bold performance art. She has had numerous solo exhibitions in various galleries and museums, including Nottingham Contemporary, Kestnergesellschaft, Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, and Museum of Modern Art PS1. Her group exhibitions include exhibitions at Tate Modern, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Tate Britain, and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Linder was also part of a punk rock band, Ludus, in Manchester in the 1970s and 1980s, which greatly affected her and informed her work. She aims to share her lived experience as a woman in a patriarchal society to highlight the effects of these experiences on women’s lives. Sources for her collages include what she considers women’s magazines, such as fashion or romance magazines, and men’s magazines, such as car magazines or pornographic material. She uses both sources to show her experiences with gender norms and expected gender roles, as well as the commodification of sexual experiences through the juxtaposition of nudity and products from advertisements in magazines.

Linder’s work is housed in Tate Britain, although the pieces must be seen by appointment or are, sadly, not on display. Her latest retrospective show at the Hayward Gallery in London, Danger Came Smiling, recently ended on May 5. However, the show will be on display at the Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh from May 23 to October 19. The exhibition will have free entry and open daily from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm. Linder’s strong feminist messages and bold imagery drew me to her work, and I would love to visit the retrospective if possible while we are in Edinburgh!