My mixed media work includes a 9’ x 6’ quilt made up of photographic images and text transferred to fabric. I came across a book entitled, Perfect Womanhood for Maidens-Wives-Mothers: A Book Giving Full Information on All the Mysterious and Complex Matters Pertaining to Women, written in 1908 by Dr. Mary R. Melendy. As I read, I found that the good doctor was quite forward-thinking for her time. She reinforced some feminine roles of that era, but she also advised throwing away corsets, ridiculed the starving of oneself, and advocated education for women. Melendy firmly said, “We may anticipate, with all certainty, improvement in woman’s status.”

I began excerpting quotes from Melendy’s book and juxtaposing them with images of women. Some were antique photographs of women taken in the late 1800’s-early 1900’s. I wondered – who were these women, what were their lives like? The other images were ripped from the pages of current magazines – Cosmo, Allure, Rolling Stone. The “perfect,” emaciated women from the ads and articles – who are they, what are their lives like? What has changed for women, what has not? The quilt questions, with gentle humor, past and present definitions of “ideal femalehood.”

The elongated hanging pieces with images and poetry are from the fall 2009 collaborative installation at the Rane Gallery in Taos entitled, My Land Is Me: Four Artists Explore the Veil. The photos are mine, the words are those of poet Veronica Golos.