20 October, 2024
Persistence, collage on vintage book cover, 7.5 x 11.5 in
“Men often ask me, ‘Why are your female characters so paranoid?’ It’s not paranoia. It’s recognition of their situation.” ~ Margaret Atwood
Feminist Collage Series
Persistence is a recent addition to my ongoing feminist collage series Ordinary Goddesses. With its depiction of an Indian girl and an African American girl, it's a bit of a nod to our current Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris. To get where she is now - I can't even imagine how much persistence it must have taken.
I've written quite a bit about feminism in relationship to my own art and life; you can check out the posts here, here, and here. It's such a huge topic, and my own experiences are just a tiny slice of the overall picture. I have to ask myself, what can I say that could shed any light on it?
Yet, its the accumulation of all the personal experiences of myriads of women who have lived through the vast expanse of humankind's time on Earth that, taken together, create the entire picture. It's every woman who's had to walk down the street amidst leers and catcalls. It's every single woman who's been raped and not believed, or been held complicit in her own rape because of what she was wearing. It's every woman who's kept quiet about sexual harrassment so that she could keep her job. And so, so many more.
Some of my feminist-based collage works.
“I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.” ~ Rebecca West
Shedding Little Bits of Light
So I will continue to shed light on this complex subject, both through sharing my own experiences and through the artwork I make. I can tell you about looking for a job in 1980, when I got out of graphic design school. One man who interviewed me said they were really looking for a man to fill the position, while another said that young women always quit because they had babies. That they felt no qualms about sharing this information with me seems a bit shocking, now. And yes, like so many others, I've also been sexually harrassed at work.
I can also tell you that, while working at a printing company, I watched the (all male) pressmen run off at least three women who were hired to do the same job. Through general harrassment, and refusal to help or give information to the women (as they always readily did whenever men were hired), they forced them to quit. I know that at least once, they told a woman to clean her press with the wrong chemical; I wouldn't doubt there was other misinformation as well.
When I was in high school, we had a teacher shortage because the school tax levy increases were voted down. Consequently, my algebra class of 90 students was self-taught, with a couple of teachers available for 'questions.' The textbook was designed to be used with teacher lectures, but no matter, right? When I began to struggle, my own parents - by way of trying to make me feel better, I guess - said that girls were not usually good at math anyway.
Which brings me to my other new collage:
This Girl Can Write (Knowledge is Power), collage on vintage book cover, 8.5 x 13.5 in
Making Trouble
“There is something threatening about a woman who is not occupied with children. There is something at-loose-ends feeling about such a woman. What is she going to do instead? What sort of trouble will she make?” ~Sheila Heti
We must continue to "make trouble" - or "get in good trouble", as John Lewis said - by telling our own stories about what we've lived and seen. And we must make trouble by telling the stories of women's struggles in times past, and by ensuring that women's accomplishments are remembered.
There is reason to hope that we may elect a woman president for the first time in the United States. For me, this hope is mixed with fear. I want to believe this is possible, yet I fear that it will bring all the misogynists out of their dark, slimy little corners, to do everything they can possibly think of to prevent it. Keep your eyes open, my friends, and bear witness to this precarious point in the history of our nation.
“Women are leaders everywhere you look—from the CEO who runs a Fortune 500 company to the housewife who raises her children and heads her household. Our country was built by strong women, and we will continue to break down walls and defy stereotypes.” ~ Nancy Pelosi
Yeah, what she said!
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