Responding to ‘Women and Creativity’: Annabel Nicolson’s hidden sounds

In the late 1970s and early 1980s the British artist Annabel Nicolson recorded conversations with some of her friends, asking them what helped or hindered their creative process. She played extracts from these tapes in a series of listening sessions, variously titled, but often known as ‘Women and Creativity’ (1978-80). This article proposes that Nicolson’s tape recordings continue a legacy of consciousness-raising, creating spaces for politicised feminist dialogue, with a focus on what is hidden, or unable to be said. This proposition is explored through research into the archival traces and memories of Nicolson’s listening sessions, alongside responses to Nicolson’s questions from a number of contemporary artists, writers, curators and cultural practitioners. This consideration of response as research is explored alongside the philosopher Adriana Cavarero’s concept of the ‘narratable self’ and Nicolson’s writing on ‘hidden sounds’. The article examines the particularity of Nicolson’s listening sessions and suggests that her project’s concerns around feminism, collectivity and creativity continue to be relevant for feminists today.