Artist susan c. dessel was invited to contribute her work based on the life and work of Martha Gruening to The Dangerous Women Project, an initiative of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh.
Curated postings between International Women’s Day 2016 and International Women’s Day 2017 will be added daily as the Dangerous Women Project explores, examines and critiques the ‘dangerous women’ theme through reflections of women around the globe: creative wordsmiths, academics, journalists, commentators, visual and performance artists, and others.
The first visual artist awarded a Frankel Fellowship, University of Michigan (2013/14), Dessel researched the life and work of Martha Gruening (1889-1937) suffragist, civil rights activist,… and began creating a new body of work: Brick In A Soft Hat. Dessel’s art considers the responsibility we each have to effect social change through our actions or inaction, leaving it to viewers to interpret this for themselves.
Through dessel’s conceptualization of Gruening, a woman of the twentieth century, the artist suggests issues and struggles that women (and men) perceived by many to be dangerous continue to grapple with today.
More info, including a slide show of dessel’s drawings, at the Dangerous Women Project.
2 responses to “Susan C. Dessel Highlighted by The Dangerous Women Project”
Dear Ms. Dessel,
I am a historian working on the woman suffrage movement in Kentucky. What is the citation for the telegraph from Martha Gruening to the planners of the NAWSA convention in Louisville, KT, 1911? i would really appreciate help in following up on this interesting story.
Ann Taylor Allen
Professor Emerita, University of Louisville
Dear Professor Allen, I have forwarded your message to Susan Dessel. Thank you! Yona Verwer.