Late Pioneers

Since time immemorial, women and creativity have always gone well together. We are creatures accustomed to creating in precarious, difficult, and inhospitable conditions. We create in solitude but also surrounded by the people for whom we care. Many women have been forced to indulge in their art in secret or by hiding their identity under a man’s name. Having to constantly deal with setbacks has left us frustrated and depressed but it has also strengthened us and is now part of the collective female unconscious.

Why has the world always obstructed women’s creative paths? Why, once we overcome the obstacles, when we finally manage to give birth to our work, does the world find it so hard to recognize its worth?

These are questions that, sadly, remain relevant. Patriarchal dominance has prevailed for centuries, which is why I believe it is absolutely necessary to pay tribute to some of the women who, despite lacking emotional, intellectual, or financial support, have contributed so much to creativity in so many different fields. Women who did not receive the recognition they deserved or who received it late are our Late Pioneers.

In this issue, I’ve had the invaluable input of leading cultural figures. I hope they will help you understand and appreciate the creative work of women painters, sculptors, musicians, filmmakers, and writers who blazed enormous creative paths.

Our journey begins with the magnificent journalist and writer from Málaga, Guillermo Busutil, winner of the National Prize for Cultural Journalism, who speaks to us about late pioneers in art, painting, and sculpture, women such as Margaret Keane, Hilma at Klint, Berthe Morisot, and Louise Bourgeois (who only recently was rediscovered by the general public).

In the second installment, we talk to the veteran and, indeed, renowned filmmaker Rosa Vergés. In a video-interview we discuss late-blooming pioneers in cinema, her career, her perspective and her work, and how things have gone for women in the film industry.

Next, none other than Patricia Godes, a true institution in Spanish music journalism, delights and surprises us by delving into the BBC archives to enlighten us about pioneering women in electronic music from several decades. These women were composers of theme songs, jingles, and music during credits for various television programs, but they worked in anonymity and their names have only recently been revealed.

Finally, I close this tribute to pioneering women with a podcast dedicated to female writers who endured great hardship to bring their work to light. Important novels by women, such as Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, might be widely recognized today but were reviled in their time. I also talk about Rosalía de Castro, a woman who was not only a pioneer in Spanish poetry but also in bringing the Galician language to the forefront of literature.

(Featured Image: Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party, 1974-19. Installation view at Broooklyn Museum, 2023. Source Image historia-arte.com)