Standing Tall, an Installation

This installation, created in 2021, plays with scale and with what it means to me to be female today and over the past half century. 

50 years ago, at around 7 years old, I began to notice that being female in the world offered a different experience than that offered to my male counterparts.  

The nearly 9 foot panels in the first gallery represent women today.  They engulf you.  Their size demands your attention, they won’t let you ignore them as they claim their space.  Loose, unstretched, unbound and standing tall, they step away from “should” and “supposed to”.  

By contrast, the 1-inch pieces in the second gallery represent the way that I and many women, learned to be pleasant, helpful, and non-threatening.  They fit easily anywhere, are small and won’t take over, you can equally easily choose to look at or walk past them. 

Here are more images of the three walls of panels.

And finally, here is an image of the wall upon which I wrote my artist statement: