Summer Show 2 [1981]

Adrian Henri selected this exhibition through an open submission, viewing 6,000 slides in the process.

Six of the nine artists chosen for this summer show were women – it was relatively uncommon for female artists to be the gender majority in group exhibitions of the time, so Henri’s selection perhaps reflects gradual progress in terms of gender equality in contemporary art. The selection also included work by the feminist artist Alexis Hunter.

Writing about Scottish environmental artist Elizabeth Ogilvie’s drawings in the accompanying publication, Henri asserted: “The two immediately appealing things about Elizabeth Ogilvie’s giant wave-drawings are their meticulous execution, and their attempt to do the impossible: to pin down fleeting moments from a subject that is never still. Canute-like, she attempts to still the waves to make sense of their ever-shifting patterns for us.”