SISTERSERPENTS AND OTHER ART 1990 -2000

SisterSerpents was a radical feminist art collective active in Chicago and elsewhere from 1989 through 1998. “Our mission was to attack misogyny and patriarchy, using art as a weapon,” Mary Ellen wrote. The collective produced street posters and curated art exhibitions in Chicago, New York, Berlin and Denver. Some of these pieces were made for and exhibited in such shows as Art Against Dickheads; Piss on Passivity, Piss on Patriarchy; and Home Improvements - Demolishing Domesticity.

Sports Nuts: Koons meets Oldenberg for the playoffs and Corpse de Dubuffet are comments on the sexism of the kind of art and artists that are celebrated in our culture, such as Dubuffet’s ‘skinned women’ series, Corps de Dames. Creation of Man is Mr. Dubuffet’s skin in another incarnation.

The Baby’s Room is an installation created for the Home Improvements exhibit.  Fetus Refrigerator Magnets were created for the kitchen installation in Piss on Passivity, and reflect Mary Ellen’s and SisterSerpent’s passionate defense of a woman’s right to control her own body. The fetuses are sculpted actual size, that is, about one inch long at 12 weeks, to challenge the anti-abortion claims of fetal development and the assigning of human characteristics to fetuses. The collection includes fetuses driving SUV’s, tanks, riding in baby buggies, wearing bows and sunglasses and fireman’s hat.  “Save Our Unborn Troops” was made to illustrate an absurd sign at an abortion protest during the Gulf War.

Flag Art is a personal collection of flag related ads and consumer goods.  Oh yes, we love and respect our flag!

That Was Then, This is Now pairs 1916 NYC police crime photos with newspaper clippings of women’s murders from the 1990s. The articles describe the photos exactly. We have NOT come a long way, baby. This Is Not a Choice is a baby doll pasted over with articles of teen girls killing their unwanted babies, which is what happens when you eliminate abortion as a choice in their lives. Everyone’s life is destroyed.  

Lastly, a piece she made in undergrad class: The Shadow Project commemorates her 1985 arrest on the 40th Anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, for “knowingly acting in such an unreasonable manner as to alarm another and provoke a breach of the peace to wit by painting [with chalk] the city sidewalk in protest of nuclear bombs.”