Installation

Nasty

Installation

2017

    Throughout the history of protests, activists have relied heavily on artists to create banners to spread awareness. As an artist, activist and an academic, I am continuously reflecting on past and current issues faced by woman, students, queer folk and more. For this reason I have created an installation piece that includes posters, banners and audio that comments on The Woman’s March on Washington that took place January 21st 2017, following Donald Trump’s inauguration as President of the United States. 

      The Women’s March was a worldwide protest that was held in “honor of all who have fought for the right to vote, facing violence and even death to do so”. The protests objective was to acknowledge the many insults that were made by Trump towards immigrants, Muslims, people with diverse religious faiths, those who identify as LGBTQIA, people with black and brown skin, people with disabilities and survivors of sexual assault. During the march, speakers had performed musical numbers, poetry pieces and speeches. 

     The empowering performance “Nasty Woman”, written by nineteen year old Nina Donovan, stood out to me in its ability to inspire and be inspired, allowing me to create an installation piece as a memoriam for this march. During the final presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton, Trump had murmured, “Nasty Woman”, which subsequently sparked the insult to become an empowering message about strong, intelligent, brave women. 

     With today’s modern technology and use of social media applications, it is easy to tune out or to scroll past articles on important issues that are going on in the world. For this reason I’ve utilized a gallery space to display the banners and posters to elevate them, making the subject unavoidable and showing their worthiness of being considered art. Included in the display are posters created by artists such as Liza Donovan, Shepard Fairey, Jessica Sabogal and many more. The works by these artists are published on the Official Woman’s March website and are free to download. Accompanying the banners and posters is an audio track compiled of different chants, songs and atmospheric sounds of found protests giving the static display a sense of both agency and memory. Lastly, found upon the ground as you enter the space are words such as homophobia, transphobia, misogyny and xenophobia so that those who enter the space could walk over them, feeling superior to them as they are kicked and stepped on beneath one's feet.