As the 2020 election date nears, many Americans are turned toward the complexities and implications of voting in America. The Elisabet Ney Museum in Austin, TX is opening SUFFRAGE NOW: A 19th Amendment Centennial Exhibition, on August 6th. Womxn photographers nationwide were invited via a juried open call to share photos that comment on the Centennial of the Ratification of the 19th Amendment. The most eloquent images were chosen and included in this entirely virtual exhibition, which will be available at www.elisabetneymuseum.org and accessible through January 31, 2021.
On August 18, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, giving women in the US the right to vote. Since then it has become all but unimaginable to conceive of its absence. But it was an arduous campaign to reach this milestone, and it wasn’t, in fact, until August 6, 1965, with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, that all American citizens were guaranteed to share in this privilege.
On August 6, 2020, The Elisabet Ney Museum will open SUFFRAGE NOW: A 19th Amendment Centennial Exhibition. In SUFFRAGE NOW, women and women-identifying photographers nationwide were invited via a juried open call to share photos that comment on the Centennial of the Ratification of the 19th Amendment. The most eloquent images were chosen and included in this very special online exhibition, which will remain accessible through at least January 31, 2021. The Elisabet Ney Museum is a uniquely qualified venue to host such an exhibition, as its namesake was a firebrand artist and activist who fought bravely for Democracy and Women’s Suffrage in Europe and America but did not live to see it secured.
Programming to accompany the exhibition will include a monthly online discussion with show jurors and featured photographers. The first will take place on Tuesday August 18 at 7:30PM and will feature moderator Tammie R. Rubin, Associate Professor of Art at St. Edward’s University, interviewing exhibition jurors on the meaning of the Centennial to them, and their decision making process for the exhibition. Subsequent monthly SUFFRAGE NOW programs will follow. The museum also has curricular material available for family and school discussions that support Suffrage and the women’s rights movement.
Furthermore, a special social media campaign encouraging photographers of all kinds worldwide–professional, amateur, and those in and out of the exhibition–to post and tag photos with “#SuffrageNow” in the description will allow potentially thousands of voices to be heard.
For more information about the exhibition, and links to it upon its opening, as well as curricular material and a discussion calendar, please visit http://www.elisabetneymuseum.org. If you have further questions, feel free to contact the museum directly at [email protected] and put “SUFFRAGE NOW” in the subject line. You can also access museum and exhibition information via the Museum’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/ElisabetNey , or Instagram account, @elisabetneyATX.
SUFFRAGE NOW was juried by: Leslie Baldwin, former Photography Editor at Texas Monthly Magazine, and Adjunct Professor of Photography at Austin Community College; Miriam Conner, artist, producer, and community activist; Cindy Elizabeth, photographer and multi‐media artist; Carla Ellard, Photography Archivist/Curator at the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University, San Marcos; Lynn Meredith, photography collector, philanthropist and community activist; DJ Stout, Partner at Pentagram Design Inc.; Coka Treviño, Program Coordinator at Big Medium and Co‐Curator and Project Manager for Golden Hornet’s MXTX; Erin Trieb, Photographer and Filmmaker represented by National Geographic Image Collection; and Anne Tucker, Curator Emeritus of Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.
About The Elisabet Ney Museum
The Mission of the Elisabet Ney Museum is to preserve the memory and legacy of Elisabet Ney (1833-1907) for educational, historical, and artistic purposes. The Vision of the Elisabet Ney Museum is to expand upon Elisabet Ney’s goal: to inspire humanity by creating unique visitor experiences that portray and attract a diverse audience and leave them challenged, uplifted, and positively motivated by their visit.
The Elisabet Ney Museum is a City of Austin property, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is both a Recorded Texas Historical Landmark and a City of Austin Historic Landmark. It is also a founding member of Historic Artists Homes and Studios, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites, and the American Association for State and Local History’s Women’s History Affinity Committee.
