Angela Marzullo | Raw and Radical Women in the Arts

Radical feminist artist, video artist, and Italian-Swiss performer Angela Mazullo talks about artistic alter egos, motherhood, and third wave feminism Today I’m delighted to welcome Angela Mazulla to the show to talk about her artistic alter ego, how she has combined motherhood and art, and a unique oral history project she has nurtured over the past several years titled, “The Archives of Radical Feminism.” Today’s podcast is unique in that it was originally conducted in French, and the interview is overlaid with an English translation. Key points of the conversation: Her artistic alter ego Being a mother and an artist The Archives of Radical Feminism Her artistic alter ego Angela was born to an Italian father and a Swiss mother and grew up in a small village near Zurich, where there was a great deal of liberal thought and conversations about progressive political movements. This shaped a great deal of her early thinking and influenced the direction of her artistic exploration later. After she moved to Geneva for art school, she created an alter ego for her art performances named “Makita.” She says this allowed her to have more freedom to experiment with more sensitive and provocative subjects in her performances than if she’d performed under her own legal name. Angela says that “Makita” is a role that she plays that lends more power and depth to her performances, but because it is an alter ego, she doesn’t have to inhabit that role all the time, which makes it possible for her to be more courageous and provocative in her performances. Being a mother and an artist Angela says that she always wanted to be a mother, but unlike many women, deliberately chose to get pregnant with her children while she was also in school. At the time, this was a radical, defiant act because many women either hid their pregnancies or dropped out of school. However, not only did she have two daughters, she also found ways to include them in her work, ultimately creating a project called “Homeschool,” which features her daughters reenacting portions of critical texts to highlight the childishness of certain critical actions. The Archives of Radical Feminism For the last five years, Angela has been working on an oral history project of feminism, which includes both recording conversations among contemporary women about critical topics, and transcribing an audio archive of 1970s radical feminist Italian consciousness-raising sessions. These conversations and transcriptions raise the questions of how feminism has evolved over the last several decades. It also cemented Angela’s position that feminism is a movement best done by groups of women. She says that as a performer, she is a lone activist. But once she began working with small groups of women, she realized how feminism is a moment of many and that it is a collective vibration. For more information about our guest or the podcast, visit our website www.rawradical.com This podcast is produced with the support of The swiss arts council prohelvetia, the Republic and Canton of Geneva,  the city of Lancy.