Our current political era is defined by efforts to protect a fragile democracy, with the strength of organizing women across the country leading the way forward in protest, and in hopes of a more just, safer society. Rooted in the legacy of feminist artists like Nancy Spero and Mary Beth Edelman, this textile collage features an embellished and embroidered original textile print inspired by Spero’s repeated frieze motifs. The piece features stylized figures of women artists from history including Artemisia Gentileeschi, Edmonia Lewis, female figure ca 3500-3400 bce, Pan Yuliang, Adelaide Labille-Guiard, Romaine Brooks, Faith Ringgold, Ruth Asawa, Greer Lankton, Frida Kahlo, Ann Lowe, Florine Stettheimer, and Sonia Delaunay as a chorus of powerful women artist ancestors joined together.

In my past work as an educational theater director of many years, we produced an annual production from the surviving ancient Greek plays as a cross-curricular experience for our students with masked performers and chorus all wearing chitons; we rotated from comedy to tragedy, but Lysistrata wasn’t ever really age-appropriate. I’m thrilled to be participating in We Got the Power at CAMP, sharing my textile art inspired by the incredible non-violent activism the women in the play organize to combat patriarchal war-culture. In addition to the imagery, I’ve included fragmented lines from the play: “And on, courageous of heart, / In our comradely venture… / I could dance, dance, dance… / Will rescue our city.”