Edited with text by Roxana Marcoci, Caitlin Ryan. Conversations with Marianne Wex, Nona Faustine, Martine Gutierrez, K8 Hardy, Yuki Kihara, Joiri Minaya, Paulina Olowska, Wendy Red Star.
In the tradition of Marianne Wex’s landmark project, seven contemporary artists reclaim gesture and the body through an intersectional, decolonial lens
With startling foresight and radical clarity more than 50 years ago, German artist Marianne Wex (1937–2020) photographed women and men on the streets and in public spaces throughout her hometown of Hamburg. She then categorized thousands of these images based on the positions of subjects’ arms, legs, feet, hands and heads, along with rephotographed images from magazines, newspapers and other print sources—creating a singular taxonomy of the ways in which women and men move differently through the world. First shown in Berlin in 1977, Let’s Take Back Our Space: “Female” and “Male” Body Language as a Result of Patriarchal Structures is a revolutionary visual archive and a bracing feminist take on gender, photography and society. Taking Back Our Space: Photographic Perspectives brings Wex’s trailblazing work into dialogue with seven leading contemporary artists who, in turn, reappraise the relationships between contemporary bodies and public spaces, from non-binary, queer, decolonial and intersectional feminist viewpoints: Nona Faustine, Martine Gutierrez, K8 Hardy, Yuki Kihara, Joiri Minaya, Paulina Olowska and Wendy Red Star. Featuring a previously unpublished interview with Wex, as well as new conversations with each of the artists, this artist-centric publication explores the intersections of race and gender, and brings new resonance to the idea of “taking back our space” as both a reclamation of physical territory and the power to represent oneself.
Featured image is a panel from from Marianne Wex’s 1977 collage series, Let’s Take Back Our Space: “Female” and “Male” Body Language as a Result of Patriarchal Structures—in this case, focused on sitting arms. “I didn’t know why I sat so tight, so constricted, even when I was alone,” Wex is quoted. “This led me to want to see how other women occupied their space in the world.” Wex’s trailblazing taxonomic project is the taking-off point for MoMA’s upcoming September exhibition, Taking Back Our Space: Photographic Perspectives, which brings seven contemporary artists into the mix from non-binary, queer, decolonial and intersectional feminist perspectives. These include Nona Faustine, Martine Gutierrez, K8 Hardy, Yuki Kihara, Joiri Minaya, Paulina Olowska and Wendy Red Star. continue to blog
FORMAT: Pbk, 9.5 x 12 in. / 176 pgs / 100 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $60.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $84 ISBN: 9781633451865 PUBLISHER: The Museum of Modern Art, New York AVAILABLE: 9/1/2026 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Edited with text by Roxana Marcoci, Caitlin Ryan. Conversations with Marianne Wex, Nona Faustine, Martine Gutierrez, K8 Hardy, Yuki Kihara, Joiri Minaya, Paulina Olowska, Wendy Red Star.
In the tradition of Marianne Wex’s landmark project, seven contemporary artists reclaim gesture and the body through an intersectional, decolonial lens
With startling foresight and radical clarity more than 50 years ago, German artist Marianne Wex (1937–2020) photographed women and men on the streets and in public spaces throughout her hometown of Hamburg. She then categorized thousands of these images based on the positions of subjects’ arms, legs, feet, hands and heads, along with rephotographed images from magazines, newspapers and other print sources—creating a singular taxonomy of the ways in which women and men move differently through the world. First shown in Berlin in 1977, Let’s Take Back Our Space: “Female” and “Male” Body Language as a Result of Patriarchal Structures is a revolutionary visual archive and a bracing feminist take on gender, photography and society.
Taking Back Our Space: Photographic Perspectives brings Wex’s trailblazing work into dialogue with seven leading contemporary artists who, in turn, reappraise the relationships between contemporary bodies and public spaces, from non-binary, queer, decolonial and intersectional feminist viewpoints: Nona Faustine, Martine Gutierrez, K8 Hardy, Yuki Kihara, Joiri Minaya, Paulina Olowska and Wendy Red Star. Featuring a previously unpublished interview with Wex, as well as new conversations with each of the artists, this artist-centric publication explores the intersections of race and gender, and brings new resonance to the idea of “taking back our space” as both a reclamation of physical territory and the power to represent oneself.
