Rethinking feminism
Provocative DAC exhibit just might improve your relationships (no, really)

I used to think of art like a foreign language – something you could eventually learn if you spent enough time around it. Now, it feels more like being dropped into an unfamiliar country where you don’t speak a word yet understand that it still has a lot to say to you, if only you can listen. 

That’s how I ended up managing an exhibit called “Exploring Feminism: Beauty of Bondage?” – on display at the Durango Arts Center April 10-May 9. I thought I was signing up to learn a bit about the alluring art world, hang some provocative art and maybe sip a little wine at the opening. Instead, I learned that I actually signed up for a full-blown existential nudge. 

Here’s the pitch: this exhibit might improve your relationships. Yes, even your romantic ones. Because relationships tend to go better when you understand the other person’s reality. And if you’ve never had to think about what it means to move through the world as a woman, or, as a woman, you’ve never really thought about how insidious the male patriarchal system actually is – this exhibit is an efficient crash course. Less textbook, more gut punch. 

There are no polite landscapes here. No soothing aspen trees. Instead, you’ll find three Colorado artists who seem entirely uninterested in making you comfortable, which is exactly the point. 

Durango artist Judy Hayes, the spotlight artist, is in her 80s, which means she came of age in a United States that treated women as something between a dependent and a decorative object. For much of Hayes’ young life, women could be denied credit at a bank or needed their husband’s permission to open their own bank account. Until 1978, women could legally get fired for being pregnant; pregnancy could end a career faster than you could say “family values.” And while women made up half the population, they barely registered in Congress (less than 3% in 1970 compared to roughly 29% today). 

Progress? Yes. Victory lap, not so fast. 

Hayes said her feminist awakening started in Catholic school, where the hierarchy wasn’t exactly subtle: men at the top, boys next, then girls … somewhere much farther down the organizational chart. Her artistic work doesn’t whisper about this – it pokes, prods and occasionally shoves. In “The Ultimate Hierarchy,” a female nude shares space with a Pope-like figure, which is about as subtle as it sounds. 

Her other pieces take on fairytale weddings (spoiler: they’re not about the dress) and the ever-moving target of “beauty,” which seems to require women to be thin, tall, smiling and possibly not needing oxygen. More than one piece might leave you wondering whether “looking good” and “feeling OK” are mutually exclusive. 

The second artist, Savanna Goodman – a conceptual photographer from Breckenridge – stages entire visual worlds just to flip them on their heads. Her work uses role reversal and metaphor to quietly ask, “What if we’ve been looking at this completely backwards?” She then lets you sit with that discomfort a little longer than you expected. 

The third artist, Pamela Nocerino, a poet and playwright from Erie, contributes pieces that are equal parts beautiful and sharp-edged. Her poem “Corsets” includes the line, “To breathe fully is to fight back.” Her piece “Undergarments” is displayed on a metal undergarment form, next to a metal wall that invites you to try your own hand at poetry. 

In addition to the poetry station, there are a handful of other spaces where you can watch a historic video, create art or add your voice to the dialogue (including a Men’s Corner that acknowledges there are lots of wonderful feminist men, supporting gender equality). The show is all about looking at various perspectives, reflecting and even participating (if you wish). 

So yes, we’re better off than we were in the 1960s and ’70s. Women can get credit cards without a husband, go to medical school without being treated like a novelty act and, on a good day, be taken seriously in a courtroom. But here’s where things get messy. 

While we’ve been busy congratulating ourselves on progress, the ground has been shifting again. Reproductive rights are no longer a settled question. And now we have proposals like the SAVE Act, which – depending on whom you ask – is either about election integrity or making voting more complicated, especially for women and immigrants. The bill would require documentary proof of citizenship that matches your current legal name. Sounds straightforward, until you realize that about 85% of married women in the U.S. have changed their last name. This means millions of women would suddenly need to produce a paper trail – birth certificate, marriage certificate, name-change documentation – just to prove they are, in fact, themselves. The U.S. House passed this bill last month, and it’s soon to go before the Senate. 

Working on this exhibit has been … clarifying. I started out thinking feminism was more or less on autopilot, handled, progressing nicely, no action required on my part. Turns out, that was a comforting story, but not an accurate one.

 “Exploring Feminism: Beauty or Bondage?” doesn’t let you stay comfortable. It asks inconvenient questions about power, identity and the quiet ways systems shape our lives. It also leaves just enough space for you to decide what you’re going to do with that information. 

Will it improve your relationships with a partner, your older female relatives or the sisterhood? Possibly. At the very least, it will make your conversations more interesting. And if nothing else, you’ll never look at constraining female garments or think about the male patriarchy, in the same way. 

So, grab a daughter, mother, sister, friend (even a date!) or just come as you are. Women and men can explore the topic of feminism in a fun and enlightening setting. The DAC hosts the opening reception this Fri., April 10, from 5-7 p.m. There are workshops with the artists on Sat., April 11 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. The show is open Tuesday-Saturday through May 9. 

Becky Malecki, a longtime Durango resident, is a retired educator and former director of Riverhouse Children’s Center. A lover of the arts, she now channels her passion for helping others into her coaching business, OneLife Coaching, where she supports women navigating life transitions.