Wait, What? Women Can Vote??? by Marianne Howard
Artist Statement
My series, “We’re All Gorilla Girls Now” was prompted by reading Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel in the summer of 2019. That book combined with the #MeToo movement and the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment made me think of “Guerilla Girls”. Guerrilla Girls is an anonymous group of feminist, female artists devoted to fighting sexism and racism within the art world. The group formed in New York City in 1985 with the mission of bringing gender and racial inequality into focus within the greater arts community. I use the word Gorilla in my series as a nod to the group and the masks we all wear.
Vintage photographs of women are the source material for this series. I use a combination of drawing, painting and photography in my work to create a deliberately unfinished and “partially stated” image. I am interested in the way women have been photographed, represented and viewed in family photos that have survived over time. Since I am working from black and white photos, my color palette is meant to introduce present day colors that would not have been the norm when the original image was created, as a bridge between the various time frames.
Marianne Howard Artist Bio
Marianne Howard is a Dallas based artist, and businesswomen. She studied drawing, painting, printmaking and photography at Wittenberg University and The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. Inspired by her extensive travels and cultural exchange through images, Howard has developed a multi-layered practice of drawing, painting and photography. Her solo photography exhibition featured at The Crow Museum of Asian Art in Dallas, Texas brought awareness to social issues in Myanmar. Her work has been exhibited and published nationally and is held in private collections internationally.