Harper's Bazaar celebrates the pioneering work of women in art.

Editions from around the world showcase the talent of female creators

Always knew I was an artist – I never actually had any other future," says Marina Abramović, whose latest boundary-pushing exhibition is currently captivating audiences at the Royal Academy. "I was terribly jealous of Mozart, because he started his career at seven!"

Marina Abramović appears on one of our history-making trio of digital covers for Harper's Bazaar UK, and is also profiled in our annual art issue, talking about her courage, originality and being the first woman to have a solo show in the Royal Academy’s main galleries – read her extraordinary interview online now.

The Serbian conceptual and performance artist is just one of a group of outstanding female creators celebrated in Harper's Bazaar this month: editions from around the world showcase various artists in their respective markets and worldwide, to hero art in its different forms and female makers across a range of disciplines.

A landmark video created by Harper's Bazaar brings these women together to discuss how far artists have come over the centuries, what their practice means to them and why art is essential across cultures. "The difference between a man and a woman is something that has been hindering us [as artists] for centuries," says Lita Cabellut, the Spanish painter. "It harms all of humanity, because the equality of women is the good of humanity."

Cabellut is joined in the video by the Brazilian visual artist Marcela Cantuária, the Mexican painter Ana Segovia and the Japanese photographer Ishiuchi Miyako, among others, who reveal what it really means to make art today. "Artists do not need any certification, but need to constantly develop," remarks the Chinese painter Zhou Li. "I am still on the path of development, gradually realising who I am."

Maturing, evolving and "creating something new with... imagination" (in the words of the Singaporean creator, Jane Lee) are central themes of the video, as is the progress made by women in the industry – and what more needs to be done.

"Women who break the mould, they're remembered for what they do, and that's what we have to keep doing," says Megan Cope, the Australian Aboriginal artist. It's a sentiment shared by Abramović, who has always been prominent in her boldness: "The world without art would be so sad, so miserable," she says. "Art is definitely the oxygen of our society."