Hannah Wilke’s Noh: Art, Feminism, and Pornography in the 1970s

In 2014, an object of uncertain status made its way into the collection of the Archives of American Art as an addition to the Howard Wise Gallery Records. Mixed amongst a notebook and some loose papers in a box was a half-inch Royal-Memorex video reel labeled "HANNAH WILKE NOH FILM APR 1974." The tape includes sixty-two minutes of footage starting with Wilke enacting a (possible) performance, moving to playful banter between Wilke and an unknown male partner, and ending with what seems to be a sexual encounter between the two, mostly out of the camera's view. Contextualizing Noh within the discourse of 1970s feminist politics and debates around pornography brings the (possible) artwork into contemporary debates around women's sexuality and bodily autonomy and expands our understanding of Wilke's use of sex as fundamental to her artistic practice.