reality that Chicago incorporates in her seminal
Birth Project
.
This complex exhibition consisted of 80 units fabricated by
130
women artisans from the United States, Canada, and
New Zealand. Heavily researched, as are all of Chicago’s ex-
tended presentations, the
Birth Project
relied on personal in-
terviews and the frank memories of women’s emotional and
physical experiences. Chicago positioned birth as the central
moment of human survival and acknowledged the great burden
of sacrifice imposed on women. The painful efforts of women
achieving birth are paralleled with the volcanic upheavals of
the planet itself. The cosmic bond of woman as earth mother,
an underlying theme of tribal lore, is literally woven into the
theme of this unique undertaking. It is not surprising that
women were not prime players on the world stage through-
out most of history since they were pregnant, giving birth,
recovering from that event, nursing babies, caring for their
young ones, and endlessly repeating this cycle.
The
Holocaust Project: From Darkness into Light
was pre-
sented in 1993 after eight years of extensive interviews,
travel to Holocaust sites, and historical research. Not only
is it a questioning visual essay on inhumanity, it positions
the Holocaust as a metaphor for the collapse of civilization.
Chicago and her husband, the photographer Donald
Woodman, depicted the
powerlessness of the victims
that extended beyond their
destroyed communities, cul-
ture, religion, property, and
physical lives. By linking the
specific annihilation of
European Jews by the Nazis
to the continuing world
abuses of genocide, slavery,
homophobia, and environ-
mental destruction, the
Holocaust Project
extends
the Holocaust atrocities to
a scale of global chaos.
In 1970 at Fresno State
College in California, Judy
Chicago founded the first
feminist art education pro-
gram. A year later, with
Miriam Shapiro, she created
a second program at California
Institute of the Arts. These
efforts to build a supportive
community of women artists focusing on women’s issues
culminated in 1973 with the first independent school for
women artists, The Feminist Studio Workshop. The FSW,
co-founded by Chicago, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, and
the late art historian Arlene Raven, was based on the con-
cept that a feminist agenda should be the basis of this art
educational facility. The pressing issues of gender choice,
violence against women, incest awareness, affirmative ac-
tion, and support of women of diverse ethnic backgrounds
were addressed by the women artists in a nurturing com-
munity. Chicago continues her commitment to sharing
experiences through teaching both as an artist in residence
and, together with Donald Woodman, as direc- tor for
interdisciplinary site projects.
Judy Chicago found her voice in the battle for self determi-
nation, freedom of reproductive rights, and economic, social
and legal equality. Her empowering art and unrelenting
stance for equality of every opportunity has made Judy
Chicago a household word.
Laura Kruger
Curator
Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion Museum
Study for Transport – Image 3 (See No Evil/Hear No Evil),
Holocaust Project
© Judy Chicago, 1988. Prismacolor on paper, 25” x 33”. Photo © Donald Woodman.
Courtesy: LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM
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