D’Ann de Simone, Euthymia II. Courtesy of Viridian Artists
Viridian Artists is pleased to present Herstory, an exhibition of outstanding art by all genders, celebrating women. The show extends from February 25–March 22, 2025, with an Opening Reception on Thursday February 25, 6–8pm and a Closing Reception and poetry reading on Saturday March 22, 4–6pm.
Herstory: an exhibit dedicated to the experience, viewpoint, and history of women. The word Herstory was born in 1962, but not until feminism gained ground in the 1970s was the word elevated into common usage in Robin Morgan’s book, Sisterhood is powerful. In 1987, March was designated Women’s History Month, but gender continues to be a bone of contention, as we are constantly reminded of the contest of power between entitlement and equality.
Simone de Beauvoir wrote The second sex in 1949, a response to women being considered less than men and in the 70s and 80s, Gloria Steinem became the voice of the feminist revolution. Others, like Jane Fonda, risked their careers by speaking out against the Vietnam War, and fighting for women’s rights, Native American causes, and climate action. Aretha Franklin, of powerful vocals and fearless activism, turned Respect into an anthem for women and civil rights. Shirley Chisholm was the first Black woman elected to Congress. Billie Jean King launched the Women’s Tennis Association, fought for equal pay, and paved the way for female athletes. Coretta Scott King fought for civil rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and peace. Katherine Graham took over The Washington post after her husband’s suicide and led the charge on the Pentagon Papers and Watergate. Diana Ross, singer, was a trailblazer for Black women in entertainment. Betty Friedan wrote of The feminine mystique. Angela Davis, scholar, activist, and former Black Panther, fought against racial injustice, mass incarceration, and economic inequality. Nina Simone’s music tackled racism, injustice, and the struggles of Black Americans. Sally Ride was the first American woman in space. Dolores Huerta fought for farmworkers’ rights. More recently we have Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris who both ran for president and nearly won. Also, we must not forget Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Nancy Pelosi who was twice Speaker of the House of Representatives. There were so many other women too, whose names must not be forgotten.
And it was in 1848, at the Seneca Falls Convention led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, that the Suffrage movement began, demanding legal and social rights for women, including the right to vote. She and Susan B. Anthony formed the National Women’s Suffrage Association, but by the late 19th century, they were already being faced with the opposition of churches, males, and businesses. In 1920, the 19th amendment finally granted women the right to vote and just last year, President Biden gave women equal rights by making the ERA the 28th amendment to the Constitution. The US finally joined the 85% of countries that include women’s equality in their constitution. Sadly, it will undoubtably be lost again as President Trump seeks to overturn many women’s and citizen’s rights. Some have already been lost. It is hard to reconcile the fact that in the U.S., the country considered so powerful, so democratic and so correct, 300,000 minors are married, most of them young girls married to older men.
The art in this exhibit explores a wide variety of questions, doubts, remembrances, hopes, fears, and fury that women continue to have. In too many ways, women are still struggling to combat the gender gap. Feminism entered its fourth wave in 2012, epitomized by the MeToo Movement and similar developments focusing on the empowerment of women. Since then, the dilemma of gender has become much more complex, as gender fluidity and change are more commonly embraced, and with targeted discrimination occurring in these increasingly discussed avenues of identity.
The artists in this exhibit use a variety of media, themes, and representations. Victoria Antonopoulos, Steven Ferri, Marc Chicoine, Alla Podolsky and Denita Benyshek focus on the strength of females, some realistically, others more abstractly. Elizabeth Ginsberg, Rosemary Lyons, Annaliese Bischoff and Vernita Nemec use words and symbols in their images to accentuate women’s reality. Vassilina Dikidjieva and Ellen Burnett present and honor female dilemmas. Halona Hilbertz, Renee Borkow, Bernice Sokol Kramer, May DeViney and Meredeth Turshen offer other images of women. David Fitzgerald and Jenny Belin focus on appearance as a female concern. d’Ann de Simone, Gail Meyers, Zoe Brown Weissmann and Kathleen Shanahan present “women’s work” and Debra Friedkin, the reality of women’s lives. Rick Mullin, Alan Gaynor, Diane Churchill and Sabine Carlson offer remembrances of women of accomplishment, and so many other artists offer tributes to the female in us all.
In many ways we are still The second sex and battles remain to be fought: gender equality, pay equality, freedom of choice to name just a few. The equality of the sexes and the rights of women were being written about in the 18th century by men and women: Mary and John Adams, Mary Wollstonecraft, Judith Sargent Murray, and Daniel Defoe were just a few who wrote feminist literature, and in the 14th century Giovanni Boccaccio wrote De claris mulieribus (Latin for “Concerning Famous Women”) a collection of biographies of historical and mythological women.
In the art world too, female artists still struggle to gain recognition and value equal to that of male artists, as the Guerrilla Girls have so aptly demonstrated in their posters and actions, along with Barbara Kruger, Nancy Spero, Cindy Sherman, Frida Kahlo, Kara Walker, Faith Ringgold, and many others.
This year, in the 5th incarnation of this exhibit, we have invited artists of all genders to participate as allies demonstrating support through their art about gender inequity and the importance of parity in every way between the sexes.
We encourage everyone to recognize the importance of art and culture to reflect our memories of the past and our wishes for the future. Viridian invites you to view this exhibit of moving artwork, and to experience how artists view the experience and reality of women in the world today. Come see the art, and on the last day of the show, Saturday March 22nd, come hear some of the artists read their poetry addressing the issues of sexual equality and the freedom that women are still striving to express.
Women’s liberation is the liberation of the feminine in the man and the masculine in the woman.
Vernita Nemec, A reminder. Courtesy of Viridian Artists
Vassilina Dikidjieva, Silence. Courtesy of Viridian Artists
Debra Friedkin, The female lifecycle. Courtesy of Viridian Artists
Vassilina Dikidjieva, Silence. Courtesy of Viridian Artists
