Taking Back Our Space: Photographic Perspectives

September 20, 2026 - Spring 2027

The Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art announces Taking Back Our Space: Photographic Perspectives, presenting eight artists who use the photographic medium to explore the relationship between bodies and space from intersectional feminist perspectives. On view from September 20, 2026, to Spring 2027, in the second-floor Paul J. Sachs Galleries, this exhibition brings Marianne Wex’s 1977 feminist photographic project Let’s Take Back Our Space: ‘Female’ and ‘Male’ Body Language as a Result of Patriarchal Structures, which MoMA acquired in its entirety in 2018, into dialogue with recent works by seven contemporary artists: Nona Faustine, Martine Gutierrez, K8 Hardy, Yuki Kihara, Joiri Minaya, Paulina Olowska, and Wendy Red Star. Each of these works is on view at MoMA for the first time.

Taking Back Our Space is organized by Roxana Marcoci, Acting Chief Curator of Photography and the David Dechman Senior Curator, with Caitlin Ryan, Assistant Curator, Department of Photography.

Leadership support for this exhibition is provided by The Marion Silverstein Slain Fund.

Support for the exhibition is provided by the Annual Exhibition Fund. Leadership contributions to the Annual Exhibition Fund, in support of the Museum’s collection and collection exhibitions, are generously provided by Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, the Eyal and Marilyn Ofer Family Foundation, Jerry I. Speyer and Katherine G. Farley, Alice and Tom Tisch, the Marella and Giovanni Agnelli Fund for Exhibitions, Eva and Glenn Dubin, Mimi Haas, The David Rockefeller Council, the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Anna and Joel Ehrenkranz, Kenneth C. Griffin, The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis, and Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder. Major funding is provided by The Sundheim Family Foundation.

Generous support for the publication is provided by The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art.

Press Kit

Press Release

Images

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Marianne Wex. Panels from Let’s Take Back Our Space: “Female” and “Male” Body Language as a Result of Patriarchal Structures. 1977. Gelatin silver prints, paper, and ink, mounted on 277 boards; top 19 5/8 × 59″ (49.8 × 149.8 cm), bottom 19 5/8 × 59 1/8″ (49.8 × 150.1 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Committee on Photography Fund, and The Modern Women’s Fund. © 2025 Marianne Wex Estate

Marianne Wex. Panels from Let’s Take Back Our Space: “Female” and “Male” Body Language as a Result of Patriarchal Structures. 1977. Gelatin silver prints, paper, and ink, mounted on 277 boards; top 19 3/4 × 29 7/16″ (50.2 × 74.8 cm), bottom 19 5/8 × 32 15/16″ (49.8 × 83.7 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Committee on Photography Fund, and The Modern Women’s Fund. © 2025 Marianne Wex Estate.

Wendy Red Star. Catalogue Number 1944.26 from the series Accession. 2019. All inkjet prints, 17 1/8 × 28″ (43.5 × 71.1 cm) or 28 × 17 1/8″ (71.1 × 43.5 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the generosity of Christine A Symchych and James P McNulty. © 2025 Wendy Red Star.

K8 Hardy. Position Series (detail). 2007–12 (printed 2017). Fifty chromogenic color prints, 30 × 20″ (76.2 × 50.8 cm) each. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired with support from Fund for the Twenty-First Century and through the generosity of The Estate of Byron R. Meyer. © 2025 K8 Hardy.

Paulina Olowska. Body Movement Alphabet Studies (detail). 2007. Cut-and-taped printed paper, printed plastic sheet, and paint on fifteen sheets of paper; dimensions range from 18 1/4 to 18 5/8″ (46.4 to 47.3 cm) in height and from 24 1/2 to 25 ¾” (62.2 to 65.4 cm) in width. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the artist. © Paulina Olowska.

Nona Faustine. They Tagged The Land With Trophies and Institutions From Their Rapes and Conquests, Tweed Courthouse, NYC. 2013. Inkjet print, 33 3/8 × 50″ (84.6 × 127 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Vital Projects Fund, Robert B. Menschel. © 2025 Nona Faustine Estate.

Martine Gutierrez. Body En Thrall, p. 120 from Indigenous Woman. Chromogenic print, 90 × 60″ (228.6 × 152.4 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Fund for the Twenty-First Century. © 2025 Martine Gutierrez.

Yuki Kihara. Two Fa’afafine (after Gauguin) from the series Paradise Camp. 2020. Chromogenic print, 37 3/16 × 28″ (94.5 × 71.1 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Photography of Council Fund. © 2025 Yuki Kihara