Recently I read a book called Click - When We Knew We Were Feminists. It’s a series of short essays with a variety of moments when people experienced something in their life and suddenly knew exactly what it meant to be a feminist and knew that they were one. It’s a nice book that showcases how feminism intersects through different aspects of humanity. Recently, I’ve been reflecting if I’ve had a ‘click’ moment.
I have a younger brother and once he was born I started playing with a series of boys toys. I remember I had a black, purple and green bike with aliens on it. I thought it was the coolest bike cause it had aliens. Eventually, I outgrew that bike and got a cool silver and navy blue mountain bike and my alien bike passed onto my brother. At some point as I got older, my parents explained to me that I got a boys bike because it was easier for a girl to ride a boy than a boy to ride a girl bike. This made sense to me at the time and I accepted it. I cannot tell you what age I was when I realized ‘Wait, why aren’t aliens on a ‘girl’s’ bike and why can’t a boy ride a pink bike?’ I can’t remember the age I was when I realized this, but I note it as the first time that I stopped and said ‘Wait, why is that?’ The first of many realizations throughout my life of how deeply gender is ingrained as a social construct in our society. The concept is inherently simple, color indicates a gender, the way my alien bike was not a traditional ‘girl’s’ color scheme. I don’t know that I considered that my one click moment and BOOM I suddenly saw the entire world differently, but it led me down a path of questioning ‘Wait, why is that?’ It’s Women’s History month and today is International Women’s Day. Annual celebrations are bookmarks in our lives to help us understand our own lives and growth compared to a year ago. I think back even five years ago when I said ‘Wait, there is an International Women’s Day?’ I can not pin point every feminist ‘AHA!’ moment I’ve had in my life, but I think it’s important that there has been a series of ‘Wait, why is that?’ moments. I have a cheesey quote that Matthew McCoughney, of all people, said when he was accepting his Oscar, and I’ll abbreviate his story to, ‘You’re hero should be yourself in 10 years.’ It’s cheesey, but on my days when I have self-doubt I think, ‘What would younger me think?,’ as a point of comparison for understanding. I aspire to be a person that can look back in ten years and say ‘Gosh younger me, would think I’m a bad ass right now.’ Through the lens of my understanding of feminism and how that impacts my life, younger me would think I’m a badass, cutting up bras and learning about women who changed the world and continue to change the world for a more fair and equitable place. I strive to deepen my understanding of how gender constructs impact how we move through life. When I started doing Brart, when I would meet new people I didn’t always lead with ‘I gather old bras and cut them up to make portraits of women.’ Owning the space to be different has taken time. More recently, as my art has grown I have realized that Brart brings out a beautiful side to people. It subverts expectations and I get to see a genuine reaction to art. With traditional art forms, people have often been taught how to view, interact and think of the art. It’s very common to hear ‘I don’t know what I was expecting when you said portraits made of bras, but this is much cooler than what I pictured in my head.’ One of the coolest parts of continuing to introduce Brart to existing and new communities is that people start to share with me women that have been inspirational to themselves. I get random messages with some variation of, ‘‘Did you know about this Woman, she did this…’ Some of these messages are reiterations of facts I already understood and others are mind blowing realizations that an entire aspect of life was shaped by the impact of a woman. The reiterations are like warm familiar hugs, and new facts can be like explosive growing pains of necessary understanding. I believe that Brart is an artform that reflects people's understanding of gender as a social construct. To anyone who is just starting, in the middle, or well on your way of understanding how gender constructs have shaped your worldview and your life choices, know that it doesn’t have to be a light switch moment and suddenly everything is clear. It can be a long, confusing journey. Another one of my favorite quotes is ‘You can be a masterpiece and a work in progress at the same time.’ Brart is a self expression that has helped me deepen my understanding of feminism and gender as a social construct. So as Brart has been a helpful tool for helping me understand the impact women have had on the world, I hope it has helped others on their journey as well. I often get asked ‘Who are you working on next?’ When the glue is actively drying on a piece it’s easy to say who I’m literally working on at that moment. But the larger context of ‘Who are you working on next?’ can be hard to answer. I have so many ideas because there are so many great women in the world and women who have come before us! I hope to never lose ambition for Brart as long as I still have ideas. I recently heard the phrase ‘Women demand inspiration from other women.’ The reality is that my inspiration is all around me. There is an endless list of women that could be commemorated in Brart. There is a stereotype that artists can lose their muse or become uninspired, and I’m sure I will never run out of new stories of women’s accomplishments to be inspired by and share. The theme of International Women’s Day this year is to Embrace Equity. Wherever you are on your journey of understanding, continue to embrace. Embrace the good. Embrace the uncomfortable. Embrace the growth. Embrace the joy. Embrace the pain. Embrace the community. And perhaps most importantly, embrace yourself as you continue down a path of questions and self reflection.
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University of Minnesota Student Coffman Gallery
Ann Bancroft (1955-Present) was born in Mendota Heights MN, and has obtained a series of arctic exploring accolades. She was the first woman to cross both polar ice caps to reach the North and South Poles. Bancroft led a four-woman expedition to the South Pole on skis; this expedition was the first all-female expedition to cross the ice to the South Pole. Bancroft and Norwegian adventurer Liv Arensen became the first women to ski across Antarctica. Bancroft and Arnesen took part in a trek across the Arctic Ocean to draw attention to the problem of global warming. Bancroft is openly bisexual and in 2006, she publicly campaigned against a proposed amendment to the Minnesota Constitution to prohibit any legal recognition of marriages or civilian unions between members of the same sex. University of Minnesota Student Coffman Gallery
Lena Smith (1885-1966) was born in Lawrence, Kansas, eventually moving to Minnesota as a young adult. She was the first African American woman lawyer in Minnesota and was the first female president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP. She was also a real estate agent and worked against housing and employment discrimination for African Americans. Her home in south Minneapolis is on the National Registry of Historic Places. University of Minnesota Student Coffman Gallery
Josie Johnson (1930-Present) was born in San Antonio, Texas, and became a community organizer after moving to Minneasota. She is considered to be the First Lady of Minnesota Civil Rights. Johnson fought against housing and employment discrimination. Johnson is the first black person to be appointed to the University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents. Johnson continues to be politically active, participating in Black Lives Matter protests. University of Minnesota Student Coffman Gallery
Sunisa Lee (2003-Present) born in St. Paul, MN, is the 2020 Olympic All-around Champion and is the first Hmong-American Olympian. In honor of her Olympic success Governor Walz and Mayor Carter declared July 30, 2021, Sunisa Lee Day. Lee is currently attending Auburn University. University of Minnesota Student Coffman Gallery
Judy Garland (1922-1969) born in Grand Rapids, MN, is known for her iconic roles in The Wizard of Oz, A Star is Born, The Pirate, and Meet me in St Louis. At the age of 39 she became the youngest and the first to win the Cecil B DeMille award for a lifetime achievement in film. Garland was the first woman to win a Grammy for Album of the year. Garland struggled with the pressures of constant criticism from film executives regarding her appearance. She was plagued with alcohol and substance abuse which ultimately led to her death. University of Minnesota Student Coffman Gallery
Marie Bottineau Baldwin (1863-1952) a member of Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, was born in North Dakota and grew up in Minneapolis. She worked as a clerk in her fathers law office and they eventually moved to Washington D.C. to fight for treaty rights. She initially thought assimilation was important and wore western clothing. She eventually changed her views and embraced the importance of traditional native culture and stopped wearing western clothing. She worked for Theodore Roosevelt in the Office of Native Affairs and was the agency’s highest paid Indigenous women. She eventually became a lawyer and supported the suffrage movement. I've had the idea of doing a life size Lizzo brart for a long, time, but I knew I needed a chunk of time to do this right. The panel is 6 foot 6 inches tall, but 3 inches wide, I tried to get as close to life size as I could replicate. It took me 5 days to create the framed panel, paint and do all teh brart. I hope some day that Lizzo actually see this. I'm incredibly proud of this piece. I have ideas for other life size brart.
Josephine Mandamin, Josephine the Water Walker, is a water activist. She walks along rivers and around bodies of water, carrying water in her bucket to raise awareness of water.
I love Marvel movies, so when I saw Wakanda forever, I knew I'd make a Shruti Brart. I found a really cool iridescent paint, that I thought captured the magenta color the film takes when the heart shaped herb is eaten. So at different angles the color of background changes.
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AuthorMinnesota native, Sadie started making brart (bra-art) in 2019. Archives
March 2023
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