Textile Tags (2018-2021)

Textile Tags emerged from feminist pique. Leafing through a stack of art magazines, seeing page after glossy page promoting the work and shows of men with only a quarter page or two promoting women, I impulsively took a ready needle and scratched to shreds a couple of those glossy ads in a pitiless fit. Subsequent research revealed the considerable discrepancy between the promotional dollars spent on men and the promotional dollars spent on women. For example, in 2014 Art Forum featured 73 ads associated with NY galleries. Only 11 promoted women artists. Seizing the opportunity to subvert this sexist agenda I began tagging the ads like a graffiti artist tags a building wall. But instead of spray paint, I used a needle and thread. I have since tagged or altered over 200 ads perpetuating gender disparity. Patricia Sweetow Gallery, San Francisco, introduced the textile tags with a solo exhibition, Stitch’n’Bitch in 2021. I was subsequently recognized with a 2022 SFMOMA SECA nomination based on the exhibition. Textile Tags, a book published in conjunction with Stitch’n’Bitch, includes essays by contemporary art historian Jenni Sorkin and artist/writer Maria Porges.