Salomé Jacques (b.1999) is a feminist writer, curator and art historian. Raised in Saint-Barthélémy, she practices in London where she completed a BA in Comparative Literature (Queen Mary) and an MA in Art History (University College London). She is now completing an MA in Curating Contemporary Art at the RCA.
Salomé Jacques
As a curator, I envision my role as supporting women artists, fighting for their recognition, and making feminism accessible to all through exhibition making. My dissertation explored the ways in which institutional displays of women’s history are still hesitant to embrace the radical essence of feminism. I use the term ‘herstory’ purposely to make a distinction from the gendered male ‘history’ and highlight the fact that women’s voices from our past remain deeply undervalued in our consideration of culture. Empathy is central to my approach to curating as I try to elevate its aspirational value as best as I can. I trained academically as a social art historian before joining the RCA in 2021. In like manner, I am interested in the representation of society through human emotions and the manifestation of female rage remains a theme which I aspire to explore further.Still to this day, I work in tension with the philosophy of ‘arts for arts sake’; in my views, the aesthetic qualities of an artwork should enhance the inherent political attributes of art. All things considered, my thinking is deeply inspired by storytelling; I consider cinema, literature and music as equal influences as fine art in my own curatorial practice. Therefore, the historical and contemporary are constantly in conversation with one another in my own curatorial work. I am also very interested in the use satire, humour and irony as tools which enable us to push back against the deeply unsettling state of the modern world. As one of the curators of ‘Breath Variations’ with Flat Time House, I was co-leading the liaison between ourselves, the gallery and artist Christopher Steenson. I also helped write and edit the exhibition text and publication. My feminist endeavours have led to the participation of Dr. Sasha Engelmann in conversation with Christopher Steenson as public programming.