Category Archives: perSISTERS designs

Female Power Project, perSISTERS designs

use PRIVILEGE to sow JUSTICE

USE PRIVILEGE to sow JUSTICE for Eleanor Roosevelt, perSISTERS print in the Female Power Project

Current design for Eleanor Roosevelt

[The] recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world …

from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages.

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (October 11, 1884 – November 7, 1962) was an American politician, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, having held the post from March 1933 to April 1945 during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four terms in office, and served as United States Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly from 1945 to 1952. President Harry S. Truman later called her the “First Lady of the World” in tribute to her human rights achievements.

Eleanor and Franklin’s marriage was always complicated, and she resolved to seek fulfillment in a public life of her own. She persuaded Franklin to stay in politics after he was stricken with debilitating polio in 1921, and Roosevelt began giving speeches and appearing at campaign events in his place. Following Franklin’s election as Governor of New York in 1928, and throughout the remainder of Franklin’s public career in government, Roosevelt regularly made public appearances on his behalf, and as First Lady while her husband served as President, she significantly reshaped and redefined the role of that office during her own tenure and beyond, for future First Ladies.

Though widely respected in her later years, Roosevelt was a controversial First Lady at the time for her outspokenness, particularly her stance on racial issues. She was the first presidential spouse to hold regular press conferences, write a daily newspaper column, write a monthly magazine column, host a weekly radio show, and speak at a national party convention. On a few occasions, she publicly disagreed with her husband’s policies, including the decision to intern Americans of Japanese descent. She advocated for expanded roles for women in the workplace, the civil rights of African Americans and Asian Americans, and the rights of World War II refugees.

Following her husband’s death in 1945, Roosevelt remained active in politics for the remaining 17 years of her life. She pressed the United States to join and support the United Nations and became its first delegate. She served as the first chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights, and oversaw the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Later she chaired the John F. Kennedy administration’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. By the time of her death, Roosevelt was regarded as “one of the most esteemed women in the world”; she was called “the object of almost universal respect” in her New York Times obituary.

Adapted from Wikipedia

Come and see this, Female Power Project, perSISTERS designs, What I'm Making

New perSISTERS variations honoring Eleanor Roosevelt and Elizabeth Warren

I’ve tweaked these designs to add focus.

I will have all the perSISTERS and the Female Power Project scarves and shawls for sale at the Takoma Park Street Festival on October 1, 2017, 10:00am till 5:00pm. Come say hey! Event info: http://www.mainstreettakoma.org/featured-events/takoma-park-festival/

use PRIVILEGE to sow JUSTICE — #FemalePowerProject poster honoring Eleanor Roosevelt

SPEAK variation — #FemalePowerProject poster honoring Elizabeth Warren

Come and see this, Female Power Project, perSISTERS designs, Uncategorized, What I'm Making

Siouxsie Sioux Takes Command

TAKE COMMAND #FemalePowerProject perSISTERS poster honoring Siouxsie Sioux

This design was a personal commission for my daughter’s birthday. She had mentioned more than once that I might want to do a perSISTERS poster for Siouxsie Sioux. And then it was going to be her birthday and I thought I would do one especially for her. You might be able to tell that I have to devote some time to research for each perSISTER so that I can try to get to the essence of a woman’s power or gift. Well, I found out that Siouxsie Sioux really is amazing, and here is what I discovered:

“I do remember wanting to come across as all-powerful and I wanted to kind of make it painful for people.”

Siouxsie Sioux (Born Susan Janet Ballion on 27 May 1957), has been called “one of the most influential British singers of the rock era” because of her work with her revolutionary band, Siouxsie and the Banshees. Her musical genres are called “Post-punk, new wave, gothic rock, alternative rock, and exotica,” although in interviews she resists most labels. About her difficult youth she has said, “growing up in the suburbs you’re always very aware of being different. You want desperately to just not stick out. Thankfully as I grew older I kind of appreciated the difference and, I guess, accentuated it.”

This is adapted from Wikipedia (mostly) and several interviews available online:

At 17, she left school. It was during this period that she began frequenting the local gay discos where most of her sister’s friends used to go. She introduced her own friends to that scene. In November 1975, a new young group called Sex Pistols performed at the local art college in Chislehurst. Siouxsie did not attend, but one of her friends told her how their singer threatened the string of students present at that gig. In February 1976, Siouxsie and her friend Steven Severin (then still called Steven Bailey) went to see Sex Pistols play in the capital. After chatting with members of the band, Siouxsie and Severin decided to follow them regularly. In the following months, journalist Caroline Coon coined the term “Bromley Contingent” to describe this group of eccentric teenagers devoted to the Sex Pistols.

Siouxsie became well known in the London club scene for her glam, fetish and bondage attire, which later became part of punk fashion. She would also later epitomise gothic style with her signature cat-eye makeup, deep red lipstick, spiky dyed-black hair and black clothing. One music critic has pointed out, “She was overtly sexual on a level, but not for anyone’s pleasure but her own.”

One of Siouxsie’s first public appearances was with the Sex Pistols on Bill Grundy’s television show, on Thames Television in December 1976. Standing next to the band, Siouxsie made fun of the presenter when he asked her how she was doing. She responded: “I’ve always wanted to meet you, Bill”. Grundy, who was drunk, suggested a meeting after the show. That directly provoked a reaction from guitarist Steve Jones, who responded with a series of expletives never heard before on early-evening television. This episode created a media furore on the front covers of several tabloids, including the Daily Mirror, which published the headline “Siouxsie’s a Punk Shocker”. This event had a major impact on Sex Pistols’ subsequent career, and overnight, they became a household name.

Not liking the cliches put forward by the press, Siouxsie distanced herself from that scene and stopped seeing Sex Pistols. She decided to focus all her energy on her own band, Siouxsie and the Banshees…

Following the adage of DIY and the idea that the people in the audience could be the people on stage, Siouxsie and Severin decided to form a band. When a support slot at the 100 Club Punk Festival (organised by Malcolm McLaren) opened up, they decided to make an attempt at performing, although at that time they did not know how to play any songs. On 20 September 1976, the band improvised music as Siouxsie sang the “Lord’s Prayer”. The performance lasted 20 minutes.

For critic Jon Savage, Siouxsie was “unlike any female singer before or since, commanding yet aloof, entirely modern.” She opened a new era for women in music as Viv Albertine from the Slits would later comment:

“Siouxsie just appeared fully made, fully in control, utterly confident. It totally blew me away. There she was doing something that I dared to dream but she took it and did it and it wiped the rest of the festival for me, that was it. I can’t even remember everything else about it except that one performance”.

The singer from Radiohead, Thom Yorke, said: “The band that really changed my life was R.E.M. and Siouxsie and the Banshees …”. “My favourite show I ever saw then was Siouxsie and she was absolutely amazing. … She’s totally in command of the whole audience”. Yorke added that she “made an especially big impression in concert, she was really sexy but absolutely terrifying.”

Siouxsie Sioux is still making music, evading categories, and taking command. “I was doing what I wanted to do.”