“Architecture will be the last profession to be liberated by women, so great are the challenges involved.” Ada Huxtable, 1967
This quote opens the film Out of The Picture, a 90-minute Belgian documentary released on 25 September 2025. Directed by An. Ash Smolar and produced by Thank You & Good Night Productions, the film examines the sexism at work in architectural circles, both past and present. Whilst it is true that gender issues now have their place in architecture schools and in architects’ conversations, this documentary does not fail to highlight just how much the feminist struggle still has to achieve in this area.
If you have already looked into this issue, you will be familiar, for example, with the names of Odile Decq, Ray Eames, or Elisabeth Diller. But who knows the equally diverse and fascinating stories and works of Patty Hopkins, Nathalie De Blois, Olivia Chaumont or Emily Warren Roebling? All these ‘ghosts’, in the words of Beatriz Colomina, populate the discipline, indeed constitute it. This documentary sets out to revisit the history of many such ghosts and, in doing so, to broaden our understanding of sexism in architecture as well as our architectural culture! So don’t hesitate.
An. Ash Smolar’s approach is historical in nature and seeks to trace the feminist struggle at work since Denise Scott Brown and her seminal article ‘Room at the Top? Sexism and the Star System in Architecture’. The film is built around anecdotes: each female architect featured has her own story and reveals, in her own way, how sexism operates. We thus take a look at around twenty leading female practitioners. Their stories speak of the disappearance of women’s names and the lack of archives regarding these names. It also addresses the wage inequalities that persist today and the glass ceiling for female practitioners, which becomes increasingly apparent as they get older or when it comes to being a designer. We also address the distribution of architectural projects and the prevalence of so-called ‘minor’ architecture—such as housing or care architecture—in the portfolios of female architects. We highlight the importance of ‘boys’ clubs’ and male social networks, and how these insular circles exclude others. Finally, and most importantly, we highlight the eminently collaborative nature of architecture, its constant borrowings, but also the link between the ‘star system’ and sexism.
Formally, the film is constructed around static shots: architectural practices, Denise Scott Brown’s living room, building sites, archives, Place Marie Jason, Eileen Gray’s house at Cap Martin and the High Line serve as backdrops for inserts featuring female architects. Historians, architects and designers are juxtaposed to illustrate the mechanisms of sexism. Their image sometimes disappears, reappearing in another shot; they are, as Denise Scott Brown recounts in a personal anecdote, removed from the frame: “Out of the Picture”.
The film will be screened at the Palace cinema on weekends throughout October. It will also feature in the BAFF selection on 15 November 2025 at 3.30 pm at the Cinematek and will be shown in Mons on 13 November 2025 in collaboration with the ICA. So go and see it, go and see it together, with your colleagues, your clients, your students or even with your craftspeople, and don’t miss the chance to be in the picture!
