Women Creating Nouns, Not Adjectives: Votes for Women
Image: Lorie Novak, How Long Must Women Wait?
The exhibition Women in the Face of History helps us to think about the complicated history of women’s suffrage in America—to engage with the complexities of historical narratives, enduring inequalities, and the contested meanings of citizenship and rights.
The exhibition is part of the PHOTOVILLE Festival, this year in its 10th edition, with more than 70 exhibitions across parks and public spaces throughout New York City.
Women in the Face of History is presented by PHOTOVILLE on Pier 2, Brooklyn Bridge Park and is exhibited by NYU’s Department of Photography & Imaging in its gallery at 721 Broadway and by NYU’s 370 Jay Project at 370 Jay Street in Brooklyn.
The exhibition originated in a collaboration with the Park Avenue Armory entitled 100 Years/100 Women that brought together 100 commissioned artists and cultural creators to respond to and interrogate women’s suffrage.
By centering women as the subjects of history, this exhibition leads us to consider what is at stake in the exercise of suffrage. Why did women fight for suffrage if not to participate in power, to lead, and to hold those in power accountable? Why did they struggle if not for the right to imagine and achieve change on their own terms? These artists take the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, granting some women the right to vote, as their point of departure—and bring us to reflect on what is worth our struggle.
Exhibiting Artists
Sama Alshaibi, Zalika Azim, Zoe Buckman, Michi Jigarjian, Renee Cox, Jennifer Ling Datchuk, Rose DeSiano, Nekisha Durrett, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Karen Finley, Tsedaye Makonnen, Lorie Novak, Yelaine Rodriguez, Deborah Willis, Ph.D.
