The art world has long operated under a patriarchal gaze, often sidelining the contributions of women whose accolades, if recognized, often arrive decades late. The feminist art collective Guerrilla Girls once pointed this out in their 1988 manifesto The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist, stating that a woman’s career—if acknowledged—might only take off in their eighties. Indeed, many artists have waited until their nineties, or were not appreciated properly until after their passing.
However, the narrative is beginning to shift. While women artists are still underrepresented in the art world at large, there is a growing consciousness of the need to rectify this imbalance. Among those driving this transformation are the women-owned galleries that champion and cultivate the legacies of these overlooked artists.
Artsy spoke with five galleries, from San Francisco to Casablanca, about their roles in uplifting women’s contributions to art.
Tina Kim
Tina Kim Gallery
New York
Tina Kim opened her eponymous Chelsea gallery in 2001, driven by a mission to spotlight lesser-known Korean artists in the United States. She initially caught the attention of collectors by platforming the influential Dansaekhwa movement in New York. Still, a key part of her program is a platform for Korean women artists, including Minouk Lim, Wook-Kyung Choi, and Suki Seokyeong Kang. Committed to building the legacies of these women, the gallery has also turned its focus to two overlooked women artists: Lee ShinJaand Pacita Abad.
Kim recalled that before finding Lee, whose wool thread tapestry depicts luminous landscapes, she and several curators found it difficult to identify mid-century Korean women artists. “There’ve been numerous requests from museum curators and institutions: ‘Tina, could you please help us identify a female artist [from South Korea]’…and we both struggled,” said Kim. “They’ve been doing their research, and I’ve been doing my research, and it took a really long time. We now recognize you have to think outside of the box. Not all female artists practiced painting and sculpture, so you have to look at different disciplines—Lee ShinJa, for example, did fiber art.”
Lee remained essentially unknown outside of Korea until last August, when Tina Kim Gallery mounted the artist’s first solo show in New York. It followed the artist’s first retrospective at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Gwacheon, South Korea. Kim is now tasked with building the reputation of the now 94-year-old artist. “While Lee ShinJa taught at a women’s university with a strong industrial design program and was respected for many years, she was primarily viewed as an educator and craft artist rather than a fine artist,” said Kim.
In addition to Lee, the gallery has similarly championed Abad, whose massive “trapunto” tapestries critique the Filipino government and modern society. The gallerist started representing the artist’s estate in 2022 and has been instrumental in building the artist’s legacy, hosting two solo exhibitions in New York and presenting work at art fairs around the globe. “I believe the art world is now ready to fully recognize Pacita Abad’s significant contributions,” said Kim. “Her work, deeply influenced by her politically engaged Filipino family, consistently addressed social justice, identity, and migration—themes that resonate powerfully with current global discourse.”
“I want to emphasize that my primary focus has always been on fostering research and scholarship and on helping these artists gain recognition with institutions,” said Kim. “So I collaborate closely with curators, publish scholarly publications, and organize events like roundtables and panels where we’re all learning together.”
—Maxwell Rabb
