History Has Its Eyes On You

Although there is no one right way to experience all of my Art IB pieces, this painting serves as a quasi-introduction to the theme. It is meant to encompass different times of the feminist movement throughout the years. The background words are lyrics from Hamilton. As a senior in high school, not only was I obsessed with the musical, but I also resonated a lot with many of its messages. This meant that song lyrics were churning around in my mind for ages while I thought long and hard on what to do for my theme. With Hamilton, not only was it telling the tale of our U.S. history, it was also highlighting how fighting for change - against all odds and opposition - and succeeding can change people's lives for the better for a long time. That idea resonated with me and what I believed (and still believe) about feminism, so I made it the focus of this painting.

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 The signs and the woman are all from different women's marches through the ages - all the way from the 20s to the 70s: the history of feminism that have led us to today. I decided to make the lettering in the background pink as a way to reclaim the color, an attempt to acknowledge and defy the stigma around its reputation. That way, it could perhaps be reformed from being viewed as "girly" (and being synonymous with "weak") to being viewed as a way to showcase the strength of women and the fierceness of women's movements.

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Coming back to this piece now after five years, I have new ideas about what it means to me yet again. Recently, I saw the musical Suffs on Broadway, and in many ways it reminded me of Hamilton, both in style and theme. However, I feel this piece has an even greater connection to the musical about the women suffragists in the early 20th century than it does about the founding fathers - and I do, too. Suffs was a pinnacle musical about the fight for equal rights and liberty, and I believe that it is what my works in my Art IB collection resonate with most of all. I hope this piece encapsulates the full ongoing movement for women's rights and the hard work it has taken to get to where we are now; that the fight to keep them is important than ever.