SHOW UP for Tess Asplund perSISTERS print in the Female Power Project. You can purchase this design online at this link.
Tess Asplund, born in 1974, is a Swedish activist who gained attention because of her protest against neo-Nazis in Borlänge, Sweden. David Lagerlof is the photographer of the viral image, which shows Asplund facing 300 uniformed members of the Swedish Nordic Resistance Movement with her fist in the air. She is originally from Colombia and describes herself as Afro-Swedish. “It was an impulse. I was so angry, I just went out into the street,” Asplund told the Guardian. “I was thinking: hell no, they can’t march here! I had this adrenaline. No Nazi is going to march here, it’s not okay.” “I hope something positive will come out of the picture. Maybe what I did can be a symbol that we can do something—if one person can do it, anyone can.”
based on Wikipedia and the Guardian
DESIGN NOTE
I began the perSISTERS series with three iconic images of women protesters: Danuta Danielsson, “BE BRAVE” (woman hitting a neo-Nazi over the head with her handbag), Ieshia Evans, “BE PRESENT” (the awesomely poised woman in a breezy sun dress getting arrested by three riot police looking like intergalactic warriors), and this one. In all of these I have cropped in to focus on the woman’s figure, stressing that she is the agent in the tableau. (You can also see this effect in the Ruby Bridges design.) I had just experienced the DC Women’s March and I was captivated by the idea of putting my body in a particular space at a particular time in order to communicate a message of power.
As I was working with this image I was drawing a path around the figure and her bag. Zoomed in, I saw how lumpy her bag is, and I realized she had her groceries in there. She was out doing her shopping when she was called to stand in that place at that time in that way. She was already there, but then she “Showed Up” with a very fundamental posture of resistance. My work in the perSISTERS series is my posture of resistance. Shortly after this photo was captured the police officer in the background pulled Asplund out of the way of the marchers.
I’ve made this series within a series, I suppose within TWO series. Isn’t everything connected anyway? After the devastating slap of the election, the Women’s March was a tonic. With so many people who came from all over—and the sister marches around the world—it is clear that progressive action is becoming more potent than ever. And it is fired by female power. Like I’ve been saying. Many of this burgeoning series are available for sale at my Online shop.
BE BRAVE — #FemalePowerProject, Danuta Danielsson hitting, with a handbag, a marching Nazi-skinhead.
REPRESENT — #FemalePowerProject, amazing Tishaura Jones ran for Mayor of St. Louis. Read about her here: https://goo.gl/tdnV0Q
SHOW UP for Tess Asplund defying a march of 300 uniformed neo-Nazis in Sweden.
SPEAK—Senator Warren reads from the Coretta Scott King letter reporting racist acts by Jeff Sessions suppressing the votes of elderly people. read about it
FEAR LESS for Harriet Tubman, perSISTER print in the Female Power Project. See this page to learn more about my Harriet research.
PRESENCE: Honoring Ieshia Evans (Female Power Project)
Here is the most recent addition to the #FemalePowerProject, a multi-media triptych called PRESENCE: Honoring Ieshia Evans. This is one of two pieces with “PRESENCE” in its title. I will post about the other soon.
Now showing in the studio windows at Black Lab, you can view these works any time of the day or night (until I decide to take them down or show them somewhere else) at 716 Monroe Street NE, Studio 16, Washington, DC.
The three panels, based on a striking photograph by Jonathan Bachman, honor Ieshia Evans who was arrested in Baton Rouge on 7/10/16 protesting the murder of Alton Sterling. The writing on the pieces quotes parts of an interview with Ieshia Evans in which she describes her thoughts and feelings surrounding the event captured in the photograph. Her physical presence in the image holds immense power. I felt that this event and this person should be memorialized in some way since “viral” images have a tendency to be forgotten, their memory eroded by time and replaced by new viral images.
Mixed medium assemblage and collage, triptych. The three images (below) show the left, middle, and right panels of the triptych. All pieces are collage, spray paint, painting, and drawing on museum board nailed to painted plywood with plaster decorative molding and writing in silver ink.
Left 18” x 24” x 2.5”
Text says: I’m a woman. I’m Here. I love my people.
Middle 18” x 24” x 1.5”
Text says: Ieshia Evans was arrested in Baton Rouge protesting the murder of Alton Sterling by police. “I’m human. I’m a woman. I’m a mom. I’m a nurse. I could be your nurse. I could be taking care of you. You know? I’m here. We all matter. We don’t have to beg to matter. We do matter … I never really considered myself to be in the definition of brave. But sometimes, jobs are given to you that you’re not really—you didn’t apply for. You know?” (Based on a photo by Jonathan Bachman)
Right 18” x 25.5” x 1.5”
Text says: 7/10/2016 – It is more than me, it is more than myself. So here I am, I have a responsibility to do something.
$750 each panel
Here they are in a gallery. Click to see a larger picture of each panel.
PRESENCE: Honoring Ieshia Evans (left panel)
PRESENCE: Honoring Ieshia Evans (middle panel)
PRESENCE: Honoring Ieshia Evans (right panel)
About the Female Power Project
The Female Power Project is a multi-media performance and series of physical expressions (shawls, scarves, pins, prints, multi-media wall pieces, assemblage sculpture, photographs, and—coming soon—assemblage boxes, a print publication, video…) I’ve created these objects and designs inspired by the power of women, both human and mythological. I’ve asked friends and strangers about their female heroes and deities. I’ve researched these females and tried to find the center point of their power or gift. I document this process here on this blog. In each piece I have tried not only to represent the person, but to represent the attributes and message—the power—of the person (or spirit) in words and/or in images. The females represented so far: The Virgin of Guadalupe; Malala Yousafzai; Harriet Tubman; Maya Angelou; Erzulie (the Haitian spirit of love); and Marie Curie. Coming up next: Frida Kahlo; Virginia Woolf; Aun Sang Suu Kyi; Rachel Carson; Nellie Bly; Simone DeBeauvoir; Rosie the Riveter; Ruth Bader Ginsburg…
Information on how to order pieces in the Female Power Project
You can order them directly from me! Just send me a message here to discuss your request (include your name, email, and the address you want me to ship to, as well as which pieces you would like to buy) and I will send you information and/or a Paypal invoice which will include the shipping cost (likely to be $5.00 for scarves and shawls and pins for U.S. destinations). I will ship when your payment goes through. If you are interested in purchasing a Female Power Pin ($48, some are $38) let me know and I will email you a picture of the ones I have in the studio right now. These are one-of-a-kind, so there’s no other way of telling what designs I will have when you want to get one.
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