Tomorrow is the third annual Global Women’s March. Cities across Arizona are participating, including Prescott. This year, organizers have added an extra element – an all-female art exhibit, called Women’s Wave. KNAU’s Aaron Granillo spoke to the organizers, Amy Hurst and Maria Lynum, also an artist and activist. Hurst says the exhibit was inspired by the controversial confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh following allegations of sexual misconduct.
The Women’s Wave exhibit opens Friday, January 18th, 5pm, at the BUtiFULL Studio, 211 N Granite Street in Prescott. The exhibit will remain open through January 25th.
Amy Hurst: The exhibit is the inspiration of a local artist, who was listening to the Kavanaugh hearings, and became, I guess you could say enraged. She needed to do something more than just march. And, she was inspired to ask other women artists to exhibit in the wonderful Women’s Wave art exhibit.
Aaron Granillo: Maria, you’re an activist. You’re an artist. How do some of these pieces relate to the Women’s Wave?
Maria Lynam: Well, I think that women in particular are sensitive about what’s happening in the United States at the moment. And, some of these works really express that. I mean, we have a magnificent 3D piece, and it is in response to the #MeToo Movement. There’s three torsos that are hanging from a framed screen.
AG: Two of them have rips across the chest.
ML: Yes, right. In my opinion it’s when somebody treats you with disdain. And feel like your heart is going to break. That’s what those two mean to me. And, I think these pieces represent the variety of ways that they respond to just the name of the exhibit, Women’s Wave. There’s a black and white photograph. It’s of a woman in a dinette – diner actually. It’s very dramatic in terms of she’s all alone. So, it could be the isolation that a worker potentially would feel serving others
AG: And, the chairs are empty at the diner.
ML: They are. And, that’s why I think very solitary. Very still.
AH: But, the title actually is “waiting.” And, so there she is waiting for her customers. He income perhaps since she’s behind the counter.
AG: You know, I am noticing a lot of the artwork here, there is usually only one female figure in each piece – the majority of them.
ML: And, I think many artists, that’s how they express their concern. And, maybe that’s the power of this show. There’s so many, as you say single figures, that when they’re shown as a group, then you see the power of each piece in relation to the other. And it’s the same thing with the Women’s March.
AH: I think the other thing to build on that, I think you’re exactly right because we do feel maybe we’re the only person who feels this way. And when we come together, we feel maybe we can actually affect change, and the lasting friendships that we have made.
ML: That’s right. We call it the sisterhood.
AH: We’re resister sisters.