In 1976, Hannah O’Shea first performed her iconic work A Litany for Women Artists, chanting a reverberating critique of the names of over 600 forgotten women artists and their absence within art history. In this performance, O’Shea sings the names of the women artists in order to emphasise what she described as “the ignorance and historical denial of their contribution as creative instigators”. O’Shea’s works often display an ironic nod towards Christian iconography and religious rites, and when, during an iteration of the Litany in 1982, a thunderstorm struck outside, O’Shea ironically declared that it was “a sign of God’s rage” at her “misuse” of religious ritual.
In 1985, A Litany for Women Artists was performed at Tate Britain to coincide with O’Shea's Hannah’s At Home installation in the museum. In 2016, A Litany for Women Artists was re-interpreted by the 12-Hour Action Group, hosted by the Cooper Gallery, Dundee.
The work is being restaged in the Duveen Galleries in the heart Tate Britain in collaboration with singing collective HOWL, to celebrate the final day of the Women in Revolt! exhibition.