2021 | '(t)ruth'
The title of this work is appropriated from the Kathleen Krull book 'There is no Truth without Ruth – The Life of Ruth Bader Ginsberg'.
One of the things about 'Ruthless Ruthie' that inspired me with reference to this exhibition (He She They) concept was her fearless championing of gender equality, and civil rights and liberties.
The artwork is inspired by her iconic and fancy 'collars' (Jabots). As one, of only two, female Supreme Court Judges to sit on the federal bench (some 25 years), she found the standard juridical robes, made for a man, more suited to show the male shirt and tie. Wishing to make a more appropriate statement she accordingly considered a especially 'female typical' addition: hereafter the fancy collars made of a variety of materials: beaded, crocheted, embroidered, and so crafted simply for her. These collars represented not only femininity but power as well as the Jabots had special meanings to RBG, that is she wore particular Jabots to assert either affirmation or dissent.