Letters to the Army of Three (in progress)

Patricia Maginnis, Lana Clark Phelan and Rowena Gurner were a group of abortion rights activists who formed an organization nicknamed “The Army of Three.” From 1964-73, people from across the country would write to this organization seeking guidance to obtain safe and healthy abortions. The letters were from those pregnant women, but the some were written by boyfriends, family, and other loved ones, searching for help and support. Since these letters were prior to Roe v. Wade (the Supreme Court’s decision on legalizing abortion), the letters were a secretive form of written communication. I began rewriting the letters in the format of dada poetry in order to unite the originals. Using paper, string, and lace, I have sewn the words of these brave women and loved ones into a massive letter/paper quilt to share their experiences as a public message.

The Drawings toThree Botanical Specimens

Spring Exhibition at the Queens Museum of Art, Flushing Medows Park, Queens NY

The Male Gaze

The concept of women as objects to be merely gazed at was criticized in many of Cindy Sherman’s works. Inspired by her critique I illustrated this concept in my piece, "The Male Gaze." In this piece, I visually analyzed how women altered their bodies into the ideal hourglass shape seeking men’s approval. This strive for “beauty” can have adverse effects. Extreme corseting used during the Victorian era, cinched waistlines into wasp waists (a waistline that is or is close to hand span). Deforming the waistline line however can misplace vital organs and even endanger a woman’s life, or a man’s if he were to use one extensively. During this time, women craved for the ideal bodily image in order to attract a man for marriage and financial support. Both in and outside of marriage, women were to remain innocent and completely unaware of their own sexual desires. The wilting orchids at the top of the hourglass embody the concept of suppressing natural sexual desires and the slow withering away of life.

Pregnancy & Fertility

This work was inspired by the history of women working under feudalism in medieval time. I created a quilt, which symbolizes pregnancy and fertility. In this piece, I reversed the texture of a quilt from soft and plushy to hard and solid, representing a woman’s strength. The opening the grapes create when peeking through the hay in the center represents a woman’s vagina. The grapes themselves are a symbol of fertility. There are twelve circular patches for each month of the year. Within nine of the patches are images of bluegrass seeds germinating and maturing into grasses. The growth of the grass in the first nine patches represents a woman’s 9 months of pregnancy and is followed by three blank patches to represent a women’s empty womb after giving birth and completing the year. The circular shape of the quilt epitomizes the general history of women’s inability to advance due to social and political obstacles.

Womankind

This concept is presented through the creation of a quilt that traditionally may be viewed as women’s work. Each patch represents an individual woman and sewn together illustrates unity among women with the overall symmetry of the piece representing equality. The white rose at the center depicts purity at birth. The triangle enclosing the rose is the progression of time. Clockwise from the bottom, youth progresses to maturity.

A Public Cervix Message

In the 1950’s, Post-War America experienced a period economic dominance. A wartime economy was transformed to a civilian economy to meet the soaring consumer demand. Appliances were one of the most popular consumer products advertised and purchased. Advertisements promoted the idea that women were the ones that were going to stay at home and use these products. Hence, I mocked the idea by depicting women as merely appliances in the home. I created appliance sculptures with legs and female genitals. I then set them up in a kitchen environment. In the center of the kitchen, I set the table serving mini vaginas instead of food, inviting my female viewers to come and dine (inspired by Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party).

Stasis

In basic engineering principles, building columns distribute the upward and downward forces on a structure. Relating this concept to feminism, I illustrated a series of female columns on the bottom of the structure thrusting upward. Meanwhile the top male columns are thrusting downward into the ground. This tension creates a static condition, which is a form of stasis.

Menstruation

The menstruation cycle is a natural function of a woman’s body. I represented this concept by making a quilt that traditionally is considered women’s work, in the form of a calendar. On each square patch, I drew a different image of the cells in the uterus lining on various days of the menstrual cycle. The last two patches are the beginning of the next cycle. These last two were left blank to emphasize the pervious 28 patches in one full cycle.

A view of an inaccessible landscape with an articulated foreground/background

Prior to the first wave of feminism, with few exceptions, women were not able to enter the general workforce. When America became involved in World War II, however, men abandoned their jobs in the factories, farms, and businesses in order to fight in the war. Meanwhile, women replaced men in those positions and were encouraged to work in fields that traditionally were closed to them. Thus, women were able to overcome the obstacle of discrimination. Because of their hard work, I now have the opportunity to enter any career field of my choosing.

Freedom Trashcan

During the second wave of feminism, a group of female protesters threw their “implements of torturer” (bras) into the “Freedom Trash Can of 1968.” This action was a way of releasing themselves from the social constraints on women during that time. Their peaceful protest is remembered today as a feminist tradition of bra burning. The action is now considered a symbol of liberation. Therefore, like other feminist before me, I recreated my own “Freedom Trash Can of 1968” and brunt four of my bras to represent my perception of myself as a strong liberated woman. My documentation of this action is meant to set an example for my female viewers because there are no boundaries that should ever prevent women from being equal to their male counterparts.

Three Botanical Specimens

Most cosmetics have plant extracts added in the manufacturing process. Women use these products to enhance their appearance and some to attract male interest. This interest encourages the male gaze, a Cindy Sherman concept, the perception of women as nothing more than a sexual object. The selling of cosmetics becomes nothing more than the selling of sex. I drew three different sections of a rose, the reproductive part, the stem, and the pedals to symbolize a vagina. I then packaged a vagina sculpture as a stab of meat. On the package, I placed a label. However, the label does not contain nutritional information but it contains estimations of what women can get from sex.