KELLY OLSHAN
SEEME IS PROUD TO PRESENT
THE STORY OF ARTIST:
KELLY OLSHAN
“Being an ambitious woman – a woman in charge – is something that’s uncomfortable, because people aren’t comfortable with it. As an artist and an arts manager, I am in leadership roles, and people often resent that. In school, I ran the University’s arts organization. Once, after an event, I came back to my studio to a nasty message written on the wall – totally unprompted for all my peers and professors to see. If I won an award, I’d get emails saying why I didn’t deserve it. I’ve had male colleagues ask me how much money I make, presumably worried that it’s more than they make. When I moved to NYC to be an arts professional and was looking at apartments, the realtors addressed my boyfriend when I’d be the one writing the check. There are plenty of female leaders in the arts, but if you look at who is in executive leadership or receiving solo shows, it’s completely disproportionate to the percentage of women who go into these fields. It’s not just representation in powerful roles, but the way we treat the women in them. I had a moment at work where I realized that I know plenty of female Executive Directors in the arts, but I don’t know any that aren’t severely criticized. We obsess about their flaws and glaze over their accomplishments. It shouldn’t be that hard of a choice. If it was about the work – the art they make, the work they do – we would be telling a different story.”
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