My tutor Lewis Jones has thrown down the gauntlet!

This morning, I received an email from Lewis, with information from Loughborough University, requesting abstracts for papers to be presented to a seminar.  This led to me going for a swim to get my thoughts in order - 2,200 m!  There was a lot to think about with this Call for Papers!

" CfP: Gender in art: production, collection, display (AAH Summer Symposium) (8-9 June 2016 Loughborough) (CfP 23 March 2016)

We welcome contributions from all periods and contexts that critically engage with notions of gender relations in the production, collection and display of art. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

•       Gender roles in the home and domestic art
•       Transgender art, exhibitions and collections
•       Gender-aware approaches to display and collections of art
•       Women artists in the ‘public’ and ‘private’ sphere
•       Gendered sensibilities in public/institutional settings
•       Feminist approaches to collection, curation and exhibition practices"

The question is, do I have the backbone to grasp the nettle?

My work is about how I think women should be valued - that the domestic and mundane are as worthy of respect as that traditionally valued by those in power (usually, men, with educational/financial power).  I am interested in how artworks in public galleries and museums represent the full breadth of society (or not) and what values are embodied within these artworks.  I am interested in the status or hierarchy of media used, and its impact on whether it gets displayed by galleries.  I enjoy narrative in art and want to make art that enables the viewer to understand and empathise with the values described and  also identify with it from their own or familial experience.  I need to read more around the hierarchy of artistic media; the portrayal of value in art; and narrative art.

While quaking in my boots about the thought of presenting a paper at a seminar, I have evaluated why Lewis might have put this opportunity forward to me.  I think communication skills would need to be a key criteria - and he has seen my writing in my Literature Review, and listened to me talk in a couple of presentations.  I hope this means he thinks my research is of sufficient standard to cut the mustard.  I also have demonstrated that I am prepared to travel to investigate things, so going to Loughborough would not be an issue. I am acutely aware that when I get going in a presentation, my volume goes up, particularly when I am passionately interested in the subject.  I am not sure how I would get on with microphones, if it is a conference where you get wired for sound!

So, I am considering taking a large brave pill and putting in a submission.  Decision not made yet.

In the meantime, images of gauntlets and nettles are floating around in my head!