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Wo/Manhouse 2022
Through the Flower celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Womanhouse with a historical exhibition at the Through the Flower Art Space in Belen and contemporary re-envisioning of Womanhouse in a nearby mid-century house. Megan Malcom-Morgan, Executive Director of Through the Flower, organized a team of community volunteers who were involved in the planning of this exciting project. Both shows opened on June 18th and ran until October 9th 2022.
The goal of this project is to continue this historic dialogue at a time abundant with misogyny, racial bias, attacks on women’s and trans rights, and political turmoil.
Wo/Manhouse 2022 Artists & crew
Working on Wo/Manhouse 2022
Collaborating with Judy Chicago
Collaborating with Judy Chicago
Collaborating with Judy Chicago
Judy and Laura discuss the benefits of trading rooms from the original ideas proposed. She recommended that Vladimir Dantes and Laura should trade rooms so her manniquins had space to speak and tell their stories and Vladimir could create the "Trans Bathroom" .
Facilitator Nancy Yodelman
Collaborating with Judy Chicago
Collaborating with Judy Chicago
Nancy Youdelman, a successful artist and one of Chicago’s Fresno students who went to Cal-Arts and participated in the original Womanhouse, facilitated the project with Judy Chicago as advisor. Guinivere Mayse (shown one the right) created an installation called "7 Rules a Day".
Preparing for Installation
Collaborating with Judy Chicago
Preparing for Installation
Megan Malcom Morgan, Savannah Martinez, Laura Feierman and Olivia Hartvig gather to record thier voices for the installation to get the true visceral experience of what Vulnerability, Insecurity, Humility and Tenacity would sound like talking with eachother.
Artist Talks
Collaborating with Artists
Preparing for Installation
During the duration of Wo/Manhouse Laura gave two artist talks. The first talk was with Stephanie Lerma where they discussed thier influences on being artists. The second talk was with Ana June, Chris Riedel and Vladimir Dantes where they spoke more in depth about thier installations.
Collaborating with Artists
Collaborating with Artists
Collaborating with Artists
Laura worked and collaborated with Jules Hoffman and Olivia Hartvig to create the pregnant cow in thier installation called "The Delivery Kitchen". She also helped out Ana June, Chris and Graysen Riedel with mannequin making on the "Arsenic Hour".
Ironing and Scrubbing
Collaborating with Artists
Collaborating with Artists
Performances were held every weekend, but when a performer couldn't make it Laura would fill in and scrubbed the floor a few times and even ironed.
Making of Vulnerability, Humility, Insecurity and Tenacity
As soon as Laura was notified that she was a participating artist, she knew she had a lot of work ahead of her with 4 mannequins to make. Each pose was unique for each mannequin in order to exhibit feelings through hand gestures, body language , and use of full scale human sculptures. Every little detail was planned including the position of all the hands and feet.
All of the mannequins were hand carved from April 1, 2022 to installation on June 10, 2022. Each manniquin is made from foam insulation that starts as a 4 x8 sheet. She worked for 10 weeks with sometimes 16 hour work days straight to complete the installation on time.
Laura cast her own hands and feet using a technique made of Hydrocal for a more realistic and life-like look including the veins. The mannequins are all full scale, modeled to be same height as Laura except for Tenacity who was planned a little taller to look out of the pink bathroom window originally.
The mannequins colors are intended to make a statement. Insecurity is light pink to show femininity, innocents and passiveness. Humility is purple in conjunction with the "me too movement" of being raped and feeling ashamed. Vulnerability is blue, playful and in the clouds. She's frivolous, dizzy and lets her imagination run wild which makes it hard to stay grounded. Finally Tenacity is gold and triumphant. She gleams from being enlightened with her experiences in life that she no longer tolerates and now shines for the world to see.
"Vulnerability, Insecurity, Humility and Tenacity"
Vulnerability
As you walk in to Laura's room you'll notice Vulnerability. She was clothed in revealing, playful and sheer lingerie with her bottom up in the air delicately suspended upside down from the ceiling which envokes a sense of exposure. The positioning leaves her vulnerable to whomever she encounters or will she fall? She may be a little too innocent and gullible to survive in todays society.
Humility
When you entered the room you noticed the sound of a girl crying and glance over and see she is dripping blood after performing a Do-It-Yourself Abortion with a coat hanger that she had hanging on the wall. Along with the crying you also hear news reports of abortion facts that turned the nation upside down. She did not live in a safe state, so Humility had to take care of the unwanted pregnancy on her own, without medical help. This piece shows the importance of proper health care, that includes unwanted pregnancies that would end up in foster care or neglect.
Insecurity
She is very weight conscious and is not sure about seeing her own body in the mirror as she holds her robe from falling. Insecurity thinks she's fat and awkward looking compared to all the other women she see's in magazines, T.V. and the internet. The scale next to her is very critical and if she steps on it, it might say "She Can Never Leave the House" or she must "Starve".
Tenacity
She has been through it all from being vulnerable, humiliated and insecure with issues, but somehow she is Tenacity. Her fist is clenched with the other hand pointed and raised in the air silently exclaiming injustice for all women. She is strong and outraged and wants to speak up for all women. Why must we feel so weak at times often caused by misogyny, society and body shaming?
Hanging next to "Humility" on the wall displays a grid of coat hangers that are "At Home D.I.Y. Abortion with gruesome "Instructions: Stick pointy end of a bent hanger in vagina missing cervix hoping you hit your uterus until you bleed. Use at your own risk".
This emphasizes the importance of having proper health care which includes abortions.
Insecurity stood next to a scale that portrays the way she perceives herself rather than a number. The unreasonable labels on the dial are all she sees that trap her within her insecurities. Donald Woodman bought the scale for Judy Chicago's birthday.