When I finally began to be part of the women's movement it was the first time
in my life when I saw what it meant to be connected to other people and as time
went on I realized how much I had to give.
Women were supposed to be in a certain way. I used to call it the period of
white gloves because if you didn't go out with your husband to the to the
restaurant and you didn't wear your white gloves then people who would look
at you because you were out of line.
There were rules, and and the rules are not the women's rules at all they
were the men's rules. There was no such thing as a specific part by women.
The story of women house is about Judy Chicago and myself beginning an art
course for women. To make women understand that in order to be artists
they had to find their identity as well as working hard to learn how to create
images that came from their belief system.
I mean they didn't know what a belief system was. I mean there was so much to teach, you
know. Ultimately, they were creating their own autobiographies.
This young woman brought a, it was a box that she made. And in the box she had, it
was very delicate and very moving it was her first bra and the bra move down like
this and the box was made nicely and suddenly I thought about all the art you
know that people studied in schools and who in God's name ever brought that to
school you know as their as as what they thought was important but it was
important.
It was so important because it was the beginning of whatever her identity would
be.
I always had a thought of a woman like myself who's standing in the kitchen.
She's washing all the dishes and What's she thinking about
then? What would it be like to have a story to tell what it'd be like if you
you had a certain kind of dress on? What would it be like to move your body
around?
I was myself dealing with my identity. I was innocent
at that time in my life I was older but i was still innocent.
It's now in 2006 those of us who are feminist women are well-known for a
paintings that tell the stories of women's lives and you see how simple it
was.