Room of Her Own brings together a group of artists – Natalie Frank, Hilary Harkness, Emily Noelle Lambert, Paula Rego, Dasha Shishkin, Eve Sussman | Rufus Corporation, and Mickalene Thomas – who are working with figuration to construct personal environments that are singularly their own. These artists are all women. These women share interconnected yet diverse interests in the construction of identity both personal and public. Addressing intimate and fantastic views of sexuality, fantasy, nationality, race, gender and art history on paper, and in film; these artists emphasize the primacy of the figure to create narrative.

What is the public role of personal fantasy? How do these women use images related to the female body to tell their own stories? The title of this exhibition refers to Virginia Woolf’s 1929 essay, “A Room of One’s Own.” This seminal Feminist essay uses a fictional narrative and narrator to examine women both as writers of and characters in fiction. This exhibition, like this text, argues for both a literal and figurative space for women artists.

The exhibition is curated by Natalie Frank and Amelia Abdullahsani. The show runs from May 7 through June 19, 2011. A Room of Her Own is part of the New Museum’s Festival of Ideas, in the theme of The Reconfigured City. The opening reception will be on Saturday May 7, from 6pm – midnight. Panel discussion on Sunday, May 8 at 2pm (details below).

In the face of the changing city and the rapid development of a downtown milieu, specifically the Lower East Side (home to both the New Museum and Lu Magnus), how do women reconfigure the city and themselves? These worlds address major points of The Reconfigured City – the body, its function, its capacity to construct, and the City – the ordered environment that is both shaped and actively shaping.

Panel discussion on Sunday May 8 at 2pm Within the theme of The Reconfigured City, the panelists discuss the change in identity politics.

Panelists: Ben Davis, Art critic, artinfo.com Natalie Frank, Exhibition Artist Anne Huntington, Curator and Consultant, AMH Industries; Communications Manager, Phillips de Pury & Company Sarvia Jasso, Pace Gallery (Curatorial Department) and Independent Curator Courtney Martin, Author and Editor of Feministing.com Taylor Krauss, Director of Voices of Rwanda Moderated by Sarah Douglas, Culture Editor of The New York Observer