So Boston put out a call for temporary public “monuments” or interventions, or murals, or AR projects to reflect on Boston’s current monuments- and what’s there, missing, or ignored. I have some thoughts, have done some research and it’s a quick turn around- need the proposal done by the 23rd of April. So fast.
So some initial thoughts-
1. Elizabeth Shields- ancestor- convinced the commander-in-chief of the British armed forces on May 27, 1775 to let her cross the immigration lines after taking the trip with 60 others from Scotland. No one else made it across- they either had to enlist in the British Army (the Battle of Bunker Hill happened June 17th), detour to Nova Scotia, or go back to Scotland.
So, how did she do it? After scouring the internet, I found nothing. So, telling her story, as a descent of hers, perhaps to inspire future women staring down men in positions to abuse their power, I feel I have a lot of leeway so tell it through the lense of the world I want to live in, one I am working to create, one she helped create by her defiance over 250 years ago.
How to tell this story? How to engage others to share their visions of a future (or a present) where we all have the chutzpah to not take no for an answer? To get what we want, to be free, to be autonomous, to break norms that require shattering? I feel like developing new words like I did for A Latent Luster could be juicy here somehow
An Aside
I want to make a thing. Yes engagement is necessary, but I want to physically make art- not just do community organizing- ideally I’d like to pay someone else to do that part- someone who is actually good at and enjoys that. My urge is to make a big thing, monumental if you will… I know how to and enjoy working in large formats, this is an obvious opportunity to do that. It’s also an opportunity to do something three dimensional which is a MUST if I’m ever gonna get a commission for something other than a mural…. which brings me to Bunker Hill
Considering E Shield’s adjacent win over Gen Gage to Bunker Hill- I like the idea of engaging with this monument- which is a monument to war and conquest- but also freedom from autocracy (to a point), a win for rebels, autonomy. It’s a HUGE obelisk. Built in 1843- it’s a 221’ tall phallus. It’s on Breed’s Hill, not Bunker Hill, there’s a museum across the street…. The soldiers actually built a small “earthen fort”- or a redoubt here- the Brits won this battle, but not the war. 450 colonists were killed and retreated, but the Brits lost 1150 soldiers that day. It is accessible for wheelchairs at one entrance.
So- how to honor nonviolence (the Kings??) equality, autonomy, and the transformation that feminism has and will continue to bring us at such a site? I keep thinking about the Earthen Fort- feels feminine.
How to honor the unknown story of how my ancestor pushed her way through the immigration lines, defied all expectations, and made her way into the country? How to tell the stories we don’t have the details to, but without them we wouldn’t even exist?
IDEAS
Go Christo Jean Claude style and cover the whole thing…. AIDS quilt style- get Julie Rhoads on board- and make it a project where people from all over the country knit or quilt a story of woman or non-binary person that made a difference, that would otherwise never be memorialized or Monumentalized. How to modernize this? A quilt of this size would be heavy and require a structure to hold it around the monument. The monument’s surface area from bottom to top and all four sides is roughly 10,471 sq. ft. CJC used polyproplene “fabric” that was recyclable. It needs to be light-weight, and able to be printed on at a massive scale. That would be exorbitantly expensive to print ……. and be well above the max funding of $100k. I don’t want to have to fundraise. I want to get paid well and do the thing. Not also be an Executive Director of my own non non-profit- CJC raised $14 million to cover L’Arc de Triophe…… so yeah maybe not. Maybe they are banners dropped down from the windows at the top? Or Janet Echelman-esque feminine fibers flow or extend out from the windows…. ? Something like Doris Salcedo’s Sumando Ausencias?
Is it a projection project? Much like Krzysztof Wodiczko’s 1998 “Bunker Hill” neighbors of the park discuss their loved ones lost to “street violence”… people sharing the powerful stories of the women in their lives- maybe Boston specific? Maybe national? Maybe stories are collected during the truck tour in 2024 with PES? The oral histories are then made into a journal, a book, forever documenting stories of women and NB folx who persevered in the face of patriarchal systems. Stories from the past, present, and future. The stories, the words are projected onto the monument, with loudspeakers also sharing the stories so that it is accessible for those with sight or hearing challenges. Maybe this ties into #2 below somehow…. I still need to MAKE SOMETHING
Other ways to engage with the site? It has a formidable shadow it casts on the green space around it. There is significant green space to do something at the site… In the Shadow of War…..? It’s a 221’ sundial.
2. The Women’s Journal- the first and most well known Suffragist journal in America was based out of Boston and ran from 1870-1917 (when it merged with another publication)- run by Lucy Stone (memorialized in “Boston’s Women Memorial), her husband something Blackstone, and their daughter.
IDEA
- Considering women’s rights are currently being eviscerated (tho not in boston) an intervention of some kind- printing new journals, engaging students (maybe at Emory’s journalism dept), posting an open call for letters, poems etc. Use the printing as an opportunity for radical discussions around our rights. Was thinking publish one journal a week for six weeks- maybe in the summer? Host talks with the authors, focus on bodily autonomy, give the papers out for free and leave lots at women’s shelters, CRJ, re-entry facilities, partner with Esta on programming for men and boys? Is there a physical space? The Journal’s original location was at 3 Tremont Place right by the Commons. Somehow engage that public space, or one nearby. Create a very feminine structure to hand out papers/journals and do pop-ups around the city in different neighborhoods?
- Other interventions around feminism: Offering resources, information, a massive tampon dispenser
3. A Very Different Idea- Do multiple different pop-ups/installations/interventions at different locations around the city to monumentalize different women, NB ppl of Boston. Almost like Banksy’s “NYC Residency” make it a bit like a treasure hunt- a new one each day for thirty days
Honor a different woman each day… this is a good resource for options- like:
Roberta Gibb who hid in the bushes before the Boston Marathon in 1966 and jumped in the race bc women weren’t allow to run. (She has already made a sculpture of herself which is near the starting line of the Boston Marathon)
Or Katherine Switzer who registered in 1967 (but didn’t mention she was a woman) and ran though people tried to remove her…
Zepporah Potter Atkins with a house on the greenway with people that tell her story
Melnea A. Cass- an African American woman who fearlessly fought for her community the “First Lady of Roxbury”
Jennie Loitman Barron- first woman judge in MA (1934)- fought for equality, got women the right to serve on juries in MA
Ellen Craft- dressed and passed as a white man, and she and her husband escaped slavery and made it to Boston from Georgia
Josephine Ruffin- advocate for racial and gender equality- found the Women’s Era Club
Maria Stewart- first American born women to speak in public- advocated for womens rights and for racial equality (she was black)
Myrna Vasquez- created a shelter for spanish-speaking women and children in the south end
Phillis Wheatley- first black person to publish a book in the US- born in Africa
Respond to all the headless nude female body sculptures around the city (Double Boston Venus) with heads of men on the ground, or headless male bodies…..
Do interventions to feminize the city, like create corridors of supportive volunteers who instead of catcalling say wonderful, kind things to women and NB people as they walk down the street, Feminist Guardian Angel Crews,
Random acts of Kindness- a physical/real life version of the empathy bots- each day something new- small gifts to people in the park etc.
4. A monument to the Future We Envision- Create a space where people can write down their visions of a future without violence, where autonomy is the norm not the exception. Maybe it’s a house-like structure by the plaque for Zepporah Potter Atkins- then we make a book or a newspaper out of the ideas and distribute it? Or have statements sky-written? Maybe we hold workshops there with Futures? They technically have an office in Boston so there’s likely a presence of some kind. I did a version of this in 2018 in Detroit called Never Again is Now- people were asked to leave notes for ppl in detention facilities along the southern border. I used emergency blankets and lined the walls with them.
5. A Monument to Healing & a Violence-Free Future- A Kind Word II- create a welcoming, safe space in a public park furnished with calming scents, healing frequencies/sound baths- and kind statements washing over the audible space. It’s soft (but cleanable) and comfortable. There are printed versions of the statements for those with hearing issues. Not specifically focused on sexual violence, but informed by all of the work we have already done with this community, the space will be run by social workers/volunteers as a care space. Printed resource lists will be available to take away. Maybe we can finally work with MASS on a design? Either needs to have security at night/needs to be able to be locked/or it needs to be broken down each evening (not ideal). Space can hold 10-20 ppl? Footprint no more than 350-400 sq ft. Maybe we can partner with CRJ (from See Her project) for support staff.
6. A Not-So-Little Library- partner with MASS to design a sick outdoor library for a park space. Fill it with banned books, feminist, abolition, gender affirming books, Noam Chomsky, other brilliant Bostonians, braille and other accessible options. Use the Dorothy Porter system. Partner with others to get free books…. books would be given away- maybe it pops up into different neighborhoods throughout the city. Would be a lot of moving heavy things all over the place- so maybe just one central location is great. Ha!
Use it as the launching space for the People’s Journal (an updated version of the Women’s Journal)
Knowledge is how we create the future we envision.
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WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY
WHO DO I WANT TO CREATE FOR? OR WHO DO I WANT TO CREATE A PIECE ABOUT?
I want to inspire women and Non-binary people to defiantly embody our power, our true selves
I want to offer visibility to the women and non-binary folks of Boston who have profoundly impacted others (or will in the future)
I want to respond to the lack of monumentalization of women and non-binary people, the lack of monumentalization to peace, care, and feminism, the lack of monuments to the future
I want to address the war on women and trans people (bodily autonomy in forms of violence, health care etc.)
I want to honor not just one or two actual women, but dozens. I want to “balance” the imbalance of representation- not only in regards to gender, but in regards to care vs. war, community vs. conquest, warmth vs. stone
I want a dimensional discussion- not a one-liner, not a statement, but an opening for people to really reconsider how they exist in the world, how they treat each other.
WHAT DO I WANT TO PHYSICALLY CREATE?Something that stops people in their tracks
Something involving light
Something that is suspended/defies gravity or hangs OR creates a space
Something that exudes peace, joy, comfort
Something colorful- something that engages the location specific to the time of year it is installed
Something that is repetitive or has multiples
Largeish Scale three dimensional work
WHERE DO I WANT THE PIECE TO LIVE?
a place (or places) very accessible to all Bostonians
WHAT MATERIALS/QUALITIES FEEL IMPORTANT?
- lightweightfabric
socially-engaged
contributions of others
natural materials
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO DO?I have no fucking idea.