This year’s ART+FEMINISM theme is activism. The goal is to correct Wikipedia’s well-known gender imbalance by adding high-quality work to articles about women artists. Join the work at Vanderbilt Visual Resources Center, Cohen Memorial Hall Room 134 on March 25, 2020 from 11am to 2pm where Rebecca VanDiver (History of Art) will speak on “The Torture of Mothers: Black Reproductive Justice in Elizabeth Catlett’s Prints.”
As a sculptor and a printmaker, Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012) believed in the power of art as a vehicle for social change. Born in the United States and living in Mexico for much of her adult life, Catlett saw herself as having two people. In this talk Prof. VanDiver traces how Catlett’s imaging of black motherhood evolves from depictions of maternal love in the 1940s to those of maternal fear in the 1970s as the threat to black bodies through police violence and political attacks on the notion of black motherhood becomes even more intense. VanDiver positions Catlett as a black reproductive justice activist working within the second wave Feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s in both the United States and in Mexico, her adopted home.
Why do we edit? To make women’s lives and their work visible and to preserve their stories. Editing women artists/curators/scholars into Wikipedia is activism. Come write about your favorite woman artist, curator, architect, photographer or critic. Bring your laptop, no experience required. We’ll teach you how to edit and have suggested topics. Everyone is welcome. The editing-averse are welcome to stop by to show their support. Lunch will be provided.
