' Counterpractice provides an ambitious survey of the events leading up to May '68 and an invaluable document of the women artists who were working in Paris around that time. Taken together with her careful account of the ground-breaking feminist theory that informed their activism, Rakhee Balaram has made an essential and lasting contribution to the field.' Mary Kelly, Judge Widney Professor, USC Roski School of Art and Design 'This book is a major contribution to the history of feminist art, writing, theory, and activism. Rakhee Balaram has done meticulous research, placing the movement in its historical and political contexts and interpreting the issues debated and contested among these women. No stone is left unturned. Enjoy your journey with these original, stimulating artists, and with this wonderful author as your guide.' Gloria Orenstein, Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature and Gender Studies, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Counterpractice highlights a generation of women whose art defined the culture of experimental thought and practice promoted by the French women's movement. Establishing a conversation with some of the most exciting thinkers to emerge from France in the 1970s - Hélène Cixous, Luce Irigaray, and Julia Kristeva - the book positions women artists in the context of male trends in French art, while simultaneously viewing them alongside contemporaries from Europe and the United States.

This approach forces a timely reconsideration of the full spectrum of revolutionary practices by women in the years following the events of May '68. Featuring over 200 illustrations and extensive excerpts from rare French archival materials, Counterpractice will appeal to students and scholars of art, French, and gender studies, as well as general readers interested in this remarkable period of feminist history.