C A R O L E F R E E M A N U N S U N G
Carole Freeman UNSUNG Jim Kempner Fine Art is pleased to announce UNSUNG, its first exhibition with the contemporary figurative painter Carole Freeman. The exhibition features twenty-four 12 x 9” portraits of little known or not-known-enough American heroes who represent a range of social and political issues including sexual harassment, fake news and the “post-truth” moment, racism, the environment, terrorism, Islamophobia, and civil, LGBTQ and women’s rights. UNSUNG will run from March 17th- April 22nd, 2018. Carole Freeman subversively takes on topical issues through her depictions of controversial and courageous figures. Consideration of historical and present day events and statistical details led to a roster of subjects who reflect the diversity of the US population. Subjects are as varied as a physician, intellectuals, a mother, pilots, a miner, a sex educator, and politicians. Freeman’s portraits, realized from sourced images, are imbued with a compelling and vivid immediacy. Modest in size yet powerful in concept and execution, these luminous paintings affirm the quiet potency of the portrait genre. UNSUNG, an implied yet meaningful meditation on the present US political climate, offers an aesthetic and provocative chant for the possibilities of beauty and good in chaos. Examples from the exhibition include: William Moore McCulloch, who worked tirelessly for equal rights at the risk of political suicide and was recognized by President Kennedy for his important influence in passing the Civil Rights Act; Edward Brooke, one of the first Republicans to call on President Nixon to resign in light of the Watergate scandal; Mose Wright, who in 1955 testified at the trial of the men who brutally abducted, tortured, and murdered his great nephew, Emmett Till, for allegedly whistling at a white woman; and Lois Jenson, a Minnesota miner who, in 1988, filed Lois E. Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co. and won the first class-action sexual harassment lawsuit in the United States. Also represented are four New Yorkers: Jane Jacobs, a journalist, author, and activist who fought and stopped the Robert Moses Lower Manhattan Expressway; Amy Goodman who is an investigative journalist considered a “guardian of truth” by Rolling Stone magazine, and the host and producer of the news program Democracy Now!; Muhammed Salman Hamdani, a Muslim NYC Police Department cadet killed while helping others during the aftermath of 9/11 yet falsely investigated for possible involvement; and Sylvia Rae Rivera, a transgender activist and self-proclaimed drag queen who was a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front, Gay Activists Alliance, and the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) organization.
Carole Freeman (American/ Canadian, b. 1954) grew up in Winnipeg, Canada and attended the Royal College of Art in London, UK (M.A., Painting). Recent solo exhibitions include Portraits of Facebook at Edward Day Gallery, which opened with special guest Jordan Banks, Managing Director of Facebook Canada; Something About Winnipeg at Gurevich Fine Art, and three exhibitions of celebrity portraits featured during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Freeman has received international recognition through Los Angeles group exhibitions with David Hockney, Elizabeth Peyton, Frank Auerbach, Picasso, Matisse, Lautrec, and Klimt, and the shortlist exhibitions for Young Masters Art Prize 2017 in London, UK. Commissions include those by New York art critics Jerry Saltz and Roberta Smith, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, Los Angeles art dealer Leslie Sacks, and Lord and Lady Glentoran of Dublin, Ireland. Print media features have been published in The Globe and Mail, The National Post, Winnipeg Free Press, and Studio Visit, and online in ArtDaily Newsletter, ArtSlant, Berkshire News, Los Angeles Magazine, and Visual Art Source. Grants and awards have been received from the Canada Council, University of Toronto, and Royal College of Art. Freeman is represented in galleries in Canada, the US, and the UK where her work can be found in private, corporate, and public collections as well as in Italy and Australia. Carole Freeman currently works and lives in Toronto, Canada.
ABBREVIATED RESUME EDUCATION Bachelor of Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. Master of Arts, Royal College of Art, School of Painting, London, England. Bachelor of Fine Arts Honors (Dean’s Honors List), University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2018 Unsung, Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY 2016 Something About Winnipeg, Gurevich Fine Art, Winnipeg, Canada. Selections 2012-2016, Walnut Contemporary, Toronto, Canada. 2012 Portraits of Facebook, Edward Day Gallery, Toronto, Canada. Doing the Docs, Hyatt Regency Hotel (Toronto International Film Festival Headquarters), Toronto, Canada. 2010 If the Paparazzi Could Paint (Part II), Hyatt Regency Hotel (Toronto International Film Festival Official Headquarters), Toronto, Canada. If the Paparazzi Could Paint (Part I), Rebecca Gallery, Toronto, Canada. SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2017 Young Masters, Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London, UK Van Der Plas Gallery, New York, NY. 2015 ArtToronto, Gurevich Fine Art, Booth No. C69, Toronto, Canada. 2014 ArtToronto, Gurevich Fine Art, Booth No. 1114, Toronto, Canada. Classical Values: Modern and Contemporary Drawing, Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Los Angeles, California. A Celebration of Women’s Art, Gurevich Fine Art, Winnipeg, Canada. 2013 Women’s Art Now, Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Los Angeles, California. 2012 Art Takes Times Square, New York, New York. GRANTS, AWARDS, AND RESIDENCIES 1990 1982 1980 1979 1978
University of Toronto, Visual Art Award, Faculty of Education, Toronto, Canada. Canada Council, Project Cost Grant, Montreal, Canada. La Cite Internationale des Arts, Four Month Residency, Paris, France. Royal College of Art, Travel Award, Italy. Canada Council, Project Cost Grant, London, England.
COLLECTIONS Art Bank, Ottawa, Canada. Continental Oil Company, London, England. Royal College of Art, London, England. University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. York University, Toronto, Canada. Private Collections: England, Canada, USA, Italy, Ireland, Australia.
“There he is….and there’s Mr. Bryant.” Mose Wright (1890-1973) was a preacher and the great uncle of Emmett Till, a fourteen-year old African-American boy who was brutally murdered for allegedly whistling at a white woman. Wright was born in Mississippi and worked as a sharecropper. After visiting his great nephew in Chicago, Wright extended an invitation for Till to visit his home on the Mississippi Delta. One week after he arrived, Emmett was abducted from the Wright’s home by two white men while his uncle pleaded for his release. Wright lived in an environment of intense racism in his community and faced threats against his life if he testified against the men who murdered his nephew. However, he acted without hesitation and confidently identified the men responsible for his nephew’s abduction and murder in public court. This was likely the first time a black man stood in open court in the South and accused a white man of a crime (and lived). Wright’s testimony was an act of defiance, showing the white population that he would not sit idly by in the face of injustice.
Mose Wright, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
"The cost of liberty is less than the cost of repression." W.E.B. du Bois (1868-1963), born William Edward Burghardt du Bois, was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, writer and editor. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relatively tolerant and integrated community. In 1895, he became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University, and later became a professor of history, sociology, and economics at Atlanta University. Du Bois was one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and an editor of the NAACP’s journal The Crisis. Du Bois rose to national prominence as the leader of the Niagara Movement, a group of African-American activists who wanted equal rights for blacks. They strongly opposed the Atlanta compromise, instead insisting on full civil rights and increased political representation, which Du Bois believed would be brought about by the AfricanAmerican intellectual elite. Believing that capitalism was a primary cause of
racism,
Du
Bois
was
generally
sympathetic to socialist causes. He was also an ardent peace activist and advocated nuclear disarmament. Du Bois, a prolific writer, popularized the use of the term “color line” to represent the injustice of the separate but equal doctrine. The United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted a year after his death.
W. E. B. Du Bois, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
“The polarization of Congress; the decline of civility; and the rise of attack politics in the 1980s, the 1990s, and the early years of the new century are a blot on our political system and a disservice to the American people.� Edward W. Brooke III (1919-2015) was the first African Amer-ican
elected
to
the
United
States
Senate
by
popular vote. He won in Massachusetts by nearly a halfmillion votes in 1966 and was re-elected in 1972 as a Republican in a heav-ily Democratic state. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Brooke graduated from the Boston University School of Law after serving in the United States Army during World War II. In 1960, Brooke won the Republican nomination for Massa-chusetts secretary of state, becoming the first African-Amer-ican to be nominated for statewide office in Massachusetts. In 1962 he was named Massachusetts Attorney General. Throughout his political career, he aligned himself with the liberal faction of Republicans (although his views were more liberal) and went on to co-write the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Brooke was a staunch critic of President Nixon and was one of the first Republicans to call on Nixon to re-sign in light of the Watergate Scandal. In 2004, Mr. Brooke was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Presi-dent George W. Bush. Brooke died in 2015 at the age of 95.
Edward Brooke, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
“But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.” Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was a pioneer in nature writing
and
marine
biology.
Born
in
Springdale,
Pennsylvania, Carson’s many books and articles re-defined our understanding of ecosystems and how humans can disrupt them. Her first book Under the Sea-Wind (1941) was the first of its kind to
illustrate
the
complex
relationship
vari-able
in
nature.
between
every
Compelled by the abuse of pesticides and other harmful chemicals, Carson went on to lobby against their use and questioned if our mainstream view on the use of nature was a sustainable one. Her book Silent Spring (1962) focused on the dangerous effects of pesticides and the disinformation being spread by the chemical industries. Carson’s research was strongly resisted by large chemical corporations, but her persistence ultimately led to a nationwide ban
on
pesticides.
Her
work
ultimately
led
to
DDT the
and
catalyzed
many the
establishment
other
harmful
movement of
the
that U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. Carson received medals from the National Audubon Society and the American Geographical Society, and induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She died from breast cancer in 1964, and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980. Today, Carson is seen as the “godmother” of environmental protection and conservation.
Rachel Carson, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
“Our only real hope for democracy is that we get the money out of politics entirely and establish a system of publicly funded elections.” Noam Chomsky (b. 1928) is one of the most famous Amer-ican modern
scholars.
He
is
a
prominent
figure in
lin-guistics and is considered a founder of
cognitive science. Ideologically, he aligns with anarchosyndicalism and libertarian socialism (he remains today a leading critic of U.S. foreign policy, neoliberalism and contemporary
state
capitalism,
the
Israeli–Palestinian
conflict, and
mainstream news media). Chomsky has
written over 100 books on topics such as linguistics, war, politics, and mass media, and is listed as one of the most cited individuals of all time. Born in Philadelphia, Chomsky established himself as an in-tellectual at the University of Pennsylvania with his work in grammar theory and in the philosophy of mind. Chomsky ultimately gained infamy as a radically leftist opponent to Unit-ed States involvement in the Vietnam War.
His
Intellectuals”,
anti-war
essay
published
in
“The 1967,
Responsibility
of
criticized
the
submissiveness of academics and social scientists in the face of power, believing that they provided erroneous scientific justification for inhumane actions carried out by the U.S. Government. Chomsky maintains a fierce defense of freedom of speech and acts regularly as a critic of U.S. policy with a focus on anti-imperialism and anti-capitalism. Today, Chomsky is a controversial figure in all aspects of his work, yet his widespread influence is undeniable.
Noam Chomsky, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
“I would give my life to fly in space.” Jerrie Cobb (b. 1931) is an American aviator and the first woman to pass qualifying exams for astronaut training in 1960. As the daughter of an army pilot, Cobb was introduced to airplanes at a young age, first taking flight at twelve years old and earning a private pilot’s license by the age of seventeen. She was part of the “Mercury 13,” a group of women selected to undergo physiological screening tests at the same time as the original Mercury Seven astronauts, as part of a private, non-NASA program. Working in a male-dominated field meant that Cobb faced sexual-discrimination at every level of her professional life. The U.S. Congress ultimately denied her a position at NASA because of her gender. Cobb’s congressional testimony would later be integral to the inclusion of women in the United States space program. She went on to complete over thirty years of missionary work transporting important supplies to the indigenous populations of South America, for which she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1981. It wasn’t until twenty-four years after Cobb was denied a position at NASA (and twenty years after Russia put a female astronaut in space) that Sally Ride become the first American woman in space aboard the space shuttle Challenger. Today, though NASA has ended the space shuttle program, more than forty American women have flown to orbit as astronauts.
Jerrie Cobb, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
“It (sex) is the most wonderful and interesting part of growing up.” Mary Ware Dennett (1872-1947) was an American women’s rights activist and a pioneer in the areas of birth control,
sexual
education,
and
women’s
suffrage.
After
multiple episodes of difficult child labor, including the death of her three-week-old child, Dennett noticed the lack of information available on the subject of birth control and the state of sex-ual education in general. At a time when abstinence was the only accepted method of birth control, Dennett gained noto-riety by writing pamphlets discussing masturbation, sexually transmitted diseases, and alternative forms of contraception. In the early 1900s, she distributed an informational pamphlet on sex education called “The Sex Side of Life: An Explanation for Young People” which was censored under Comstock laws against obscenity, leading to a conviction. The “Sex Side of Life” trial was highly publicized, briefly turning Dennett into a free-speech celebrity. Circulation of her pamphlet increased after the original ruling was reversed. Her trial led more indi-viduals to question the validity of obscenity laws, in particular the Comstock Act. Her victory was just the beginning of a long battle for reliable sex education that continues on to this day.
Mary Ware Dennett, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
“They [mob] moved closer and closer…Somebody started yelling…I tried to see a friendly face somewhere in the crowd - someone who maybe could help. I looked into the face of an old woman and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked at her again, she spat on me.” Elizabeth Eckford (b. 1941) was part of the “Little Rock Nine”, a group of black students chosen to attend Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas in 1957. Three years earlier, the Supreme Court had ruled segregation in public schools as unconstitutional with the case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The controversial ruling was met with immense opposition from the white population of Little Rock and its neighboring towns, which led to daily riots protesting Eckford’s attendance at the school. An Associated Press photographer captured an iconic image of Eckford on her first day of school walking alone with her books through a large crowd of protestors, seemingly unfazed by the threats of the mob. The Arkansas National Guardsmen stopped her at the door and she was chased away by the mob. President Eisenhower intervened later that month and the nine students were finally escorted into the school by members of the 101st Airborne. Today, Eckford is a symbol for the Civil Rights Movement and the inequalities that continue to plague the United States.
Elizabeth Eckford, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
"The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world." Dr. Paul Farmer (b. 1959) is an American anthropologist and physician known for his humanitarian work in developing countries. Born in Massachusetts, Farmer studied medical anthropology at both Duke and Harvard University, earning his MD from Harvard. After his studies, Farmer went on to co-found Partners in Health, a worldwide health organization that began by offering free treatments and vaccinations to the rural areas of Haiti. Since establishing the Partners in Health Hospital in Haiti, Dr. Paul Farmer now oversees healthcare initiatives in various countries including Peru, Rwanda, and Russia. He resides in Kigali, Rwanda as of 2008 and is the editor-in-chief of Health and Human Rights Journal. In August 2009 , Farmer was named United Nations Deputy Special Envoy to Haiti (serving under former US President Bill Clinton, in his capacity as Special Envoy), to assist in improving the economic and social conditions of the Caribbean nation.
Dr. Paul Farmer, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
“I've learned in my years as a journalist that when a politician says 'That's ridiculous' you're probably on the right track.” Amy Goodman (b. 1957) is an American journalist, author, and news program host. A New York native, Goodman graduated from Radcliffe University with a degree in anthropology. As a bold and determined investigative journalist, Goodman rose to prominence after her life-risking reports on the East Timor independence movement and on Chevron Corporation’s involvement in Nigeria’s civil unrest. Goodman gained praise for her impartial reporting, covering various perspectives and points of view while sticking strictly to the facts. In 19 9 6, Goodman co-founded Democracy Now!, an independent news broadcast that aims to pick up where mainstream media leaves off. Democracy Now! features a diverse array of voices and is broadcast daily across the United States and Canada as well as in countries around the world. The program is on Pacifica, NPR, community, college, and satellite radio stations. Democracy Now! is also broadcast on PBS, public, community and satellite TV. It does not accept government funding, corporate sponsorship, underwriting or advertising revenue. In 2012, Goodman received the Gandhi Peace Award for her contributions to promoting international peace. Today, she continues to shed light on issues such as the North Dakota access pipeline and deportation policies.
Amy Goodman, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
“Transparency is for those who carry out public duties and exercise public power. Privacy is for everyone else.” Glenn Greenwald (b. 1967) is an American journalist and author best known for his contact with Edward Snowden and his reporting on global surveillance by the U.S. and British governments. Greenwald attended New York Uni-versity School of Law and worked in litigation for over ten years defending constitutional rights. He began his work as a journalist with his blog Unclaimed Territory in 2005, after which he became a political writer for Salon and The Guardian. In 2013, Greenwald used his wide audience base to publicize documents obtained by Edward Snowden pertain-ing to surveillance activity by the National Security Agency. Greenwald’s work with Snowden was featured in the documentary, Citizenfour, which won an Academy Award in 2014. He and his team won a George Polk Award and a Pulitzer Prize for those reports. Greenwald went on to testify against the U.S. government for using counterterrorist surveillance as a ruse to compete with the economies
of
other
countries. Before
the
Snowden
disclosures, Greenwald was one of the most influential opinion columnists in the United States. To-day, Greenwald writes and edits The Intercept, which he founded in 2013 with Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill. He lives in Brazil with his husband, David Michael Miranda.
Glenn Greenwald, 2018. Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
“He gave his life. They tried to take away his dignity in death and they cannot do it.” Talat Hamdani, Mohammad’s Mother Mohammad
Salman
Hamdani
(1977-2001)
was
a
Pakistani American police officer and emergency medical technician for New York City. Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Salman Ham-dani moved to Queens as an infant with his mother and fa-ther. He went on to major in biochemistry at Queens College, determined to make it to medical school, while also work-ing as an EMT and NYPD cadet. On the morning of Septem-ber 11, 2001, Salman Hamdani noticed smoke coming from downtown Manhattan and rushed to the scene. His remains were later found under the rubble of the World Trade Center. In the aftermath of the attack, the missing Hamdani was accused of being involved in the attacks by multiple news sources because of his Muslim background. These accusations were shown to be clearly false and Congress later honored him as a hero for sacrificing his life in order to save others. Hamdani was mentioned in the 2001 USA PATRIOT Act of the U.S. Congress as an example of Muslim Americans who acted heroically on 9/11. An intersection in Bayside,
Queens
has
been
renamed
“Salman Hamdani Way” in his memory, and scholarship awards
established
in
his name
are
presented
by
Rockefeller University and Queens College in New York. The accusations against Salman Hamdani is a clear example of Islamophobia in the United States.
Mohammad Salman Hamdani, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
“Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.” Dolores Huerta (b. 1930) is a political activist and living civil rights icon. She is known for her work in securing la-bor and civil rights in the Latin and LGBTQ+ communities. Huerta was born in Dawson, New Mexico and noticed the racial bias faced by the Latino community at a very young age. Inspired by her mother to be active in her community, Huerta was determined to fight for social and economic im-provements. She eventually established the National Farm Workers of America union in 1962 with César Chávez, or-ganizing farmers who worked in brutal conditions for as little as 70 cents an hour. It is the nation’s first and largest enduring
workers
union,
"Sí
puede"
organized chiefly in California. Huerta
coined
the
famous
slogan,
se
- Spanish for “Yes, we can” - which inspired President Obama’s campaign slogan. According to reports, she has been arrested over twenty-two times for protesting against causes that harm agricultural labor unions, women’s rights, and LGBTQ+ rights. At age 87, Huerta remains an outspoken figure and continues the fight through her Dolores Huerta Foundation. She is seen as a leader in the Latino community and was the first Latina inductee of the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
Dolores Huerta, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was an urban writer and activist who championed new, community-based approaches to urban planning. Impressed by the culture of New York City Jacobs moved to Greenwich Village in 1935. As a writer, she discouraged “slum clearance” and advocated for AfricanAmerican communities. In 1952 Jacobs became associate editor of Architectural Forum, allowing her to more closely observe the mechanisms of city planning and urban renewal. She observed that many of the city rebuilding projects she wrote about were not safe, interesting, alive, or economically sound. Her 1961 treatise, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, became one of the most influential American texts about the inner workings and failings of cities. During the 1960s Jacobs became involved in urban activism as Chairman of the Joint Committee to Stop the Lower Manhattan Expressway in reaction to Robert Moses' plans to build a highway through Washington Square Park and the West Village. Her efforts to stop the expressway led to her arrest during a demonstration in 1968, yet the campaign is often considered to be one of the turning points in the development of New York City. In 1968 Jacobs moved with her family to Toronto, in opposition to the Vietnam War, where she remained an outspoken critic of top-down city planning.
Jane Jacobs, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
“It was like they'd never seen a woman before.” Lois Jenson (b.1948) was a former miner and the first woman to win a sexual discrimination lawsuit in the US. In 1975, Jenson went to work at Eveleth Mines in Minnesota as a single mother of two, in hopes of better supporting her children. The mine paid three times as much as she could earn any-where else. Jenson and the other women who started work-ing there faced an extremely hostile work environment high-ly dominated by men. The women faced harassment by the men that went beyond generic comments about women as housewives, to severe cases of intimidation, threats, stalking, and assaults. Women who complained with the union or man-agement received even worse intimidation and harassment. In 1984, Jenson reached a breaking point and filed a complaint with the Minnesota human rights commission, which began a fourteen-year legal battle and fight for women’s right to a safe workplace. In 1988, attorney Paul Sprenger filed Lois E. Jenson and Patricia S. Kosmach v. Eveleth Taconite Co. in U.S. District Court after the company refused to pay the $11,000 previously required in damages. A federal court cer-tified the case as a class action on behalf of all of the women who worked at the mine. The case was on its way to court again in 1998 when a settlement was finally made. It is be-lieved to have cost the company more than $15m including legal costs. The settlement was sealed and is not public record. The company was ordered to educate all employees on sexual harassment. Jenson’s legacy remains as a pioneer for women’s rights while further rulings have instituted laws and protections for women in their place of employment. This story became the basis for the 2005 film North Country.
Lois Jenson, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
“We sought justice because equal pay for equal work is an American value. And, in a 5-4 (Supreme Court) decision, they stood on the side of those who short-changed my pay, my overtime, and my retirement just because I am a woman.” Lilly
Ledbetter
(b.
1938)
was
the
plaintiff
in
the
discrimina-tion case Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.which led to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. Born in Jacksonville, Alabama, Ledbetter worked for tire company Goodyear for nineteen years before realizing that she was being paid thousands of dollars less than her male colleagues of the same seniority. This led her to file a discrimination
case against Goodyear that eventually
reached the Supreme Court. Ledbetter
successfully
sued
Goodyear
for
over
$3
million but the judgment was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2007 on a technicality, as her suit had not been filed within 180 days of her initial employment. In response, Con-gress later passed legislation, called Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, that restarted the 180-day clock every time a discriminatory paycheck was issued. It was the first piece of legislation passed into law by President Barack Obama. Led-better will never receive restitution from Goodyear, but she said, “I’ll be happy if the last thing they say about me after I die is that I made a difference.” She has since become a women’s equality activist, public speaker, and author.
Lilly Ledbetter, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
"The road through grief is a rocky one. Traveling along it requires courage, patience, wisdom, and hope." Candy
Lightner
(b.
1946)
founded
Mothers
Against
Drunk Driving, one of the most influential non-profit organizations in the United States. Lightner was a mother to three children before her thirteen-year-old daughter was tragically killed in 1980 by a drunk driver in a hit-andrun incident. Lightner learned that her daughter’s killer had been arrested only a week earlier on another hit-andrun charge, and that drunk driving was rarely prosecuted harshly (the driver only served 21 months in jail). Just four days after her daughter’s death, Lightner
started
her
grassroots organization, which advocates for more severe punishments against driving under the influence. The year her daughter died, some 27,000 alcoholrelated traffic fatalities occurred in the United States. After founding MADD, Lightner lobbied California’s governor, Jerry Brown, to set up a state task force to investigate drunk driving. In 1981, California minimum
fines
for
passed
drunk
drivers
a
law and
imposing mandatory
imprisonment of up to four years for repeat offenders. President Ronald Reagan soon asked Lightner to serve on the
National
Commission
on
Drunk
Driving, which
recommended raising the minimum drinking age to 21 and revoking the licenses of those arrested for drunk driv-ing. In July 1984, she stood next to Reagan as he signed a law reducing federal highway grants to any state that failed to raise its drinking age to 21 (a change that was estimated to save around 800 traffic deaths annually). By the following year, all 50 states had tightened their drunk-driving laws.
Candy Lightner, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
“I know that you, more than anyone, were responsible for the civil rights legislation of the 1960s.” Jacqueline Kennedy William
Moore
McCulloch
(1901-1980)
was
a
Republican member of the House of Representatives who was instrumental in passing the 1964 Civil Rights Act, arguably the most important law of the 20th century. He also played an important role in the passing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1968 Fair Housing Act. McCulloch was a conservative white congressman from a rural district in Ohio with a district that was only 2.7% black, and thus had no political incentive to fight for civil rights. His efforts originated from an abhorrence over Jim Crow and a firm belief that the Constitution was not meant exclusively for white men. McCulloch was a pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement, in-troducing legislation to Congress months before John F. Ken-nedy presented his act. Though this was considered political suicide, McCulloch worked tirelessly for equal rights and was recognized by President Kennedy for his role in passing the Civil Rights Act. Jacqueline Kennedy wrote to McCulloch after her husband’s assassination, saying, “I know that you, more than anyone, were responsible for the civil rights leg-islation of the 1960s. You made a personal commitment to President Kennedy in October 1963, against all the interests of your district. When he was gone, your personal integrity and character were such that you held to that commitment despite enormous pressure and political temptations not to do so.”
William Moore McCulloch, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
“There is a tendency at every important but difficult crossroad to pretend that it's not really there.� Bill
McKibben
(b.
1960)
is
an
American
environmentalist, author, and journalist known for his writings on the effects of climate advocacy
for
change
environmental conservation.
and
his
Born
in
Palo Alto, California, McKibben graduated from Harvard University and soon began a career as an environmental writer. His first book, The End of Nature, which was released in 1989, is credited as one of the first pieces of writing to introduce a concept of climate change to the greater public. McKibben is also the leader of the campaign
group
350.org,
an
international
grassroots
organization that seeks to raise awareness about climate change and to cut emissions of carbon dioxide. As an advocate for nonviolent resistance, McKibben has organized demonstrations across the globe calling for a reduction of carbon emissions and the implementation of alternative energy sources. McKibben, considered to be one of the foremost environmentalists in the world, has been integral in setting goals for the reduction of carbon emissions and the faze-out of coal-fired power plants in the United States. He continues his activism today, having recently opposed the Keystone XL pipeline project
in
2012
in the
largest
instance
of
social
disobedience ever recorded. McKibben was awarded the Gandhi Peace Award in 2013.
Bill McKibben, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
“This is the beginning of our fight for justice and selfdetermination.” Richard
Oakes
(1942–1972)
was
a
Mohawk
Native
American activist who introduced Native American studies in
university
federal
curricula
government
and
spurred
policy.
Born
changes on
a
in
US
Mohawk
Reservation in Akwesasne, New York, Oakes later enrolled in San Francisco State University. He was dissatisfied with the curriculum and worked to develop one of the first Native American Studies departments in the nation. In 1969, Oakes led a historic occupation of Alcatraz Island to claim the land under the legal basis of the 1868 Fort Lara-mie Treaty, which they said returned defunct federal land to native people (Alcatraz had lain dormant since 1963). The occupation
lasted
19
months,
attracting
national attention to native rights and the plight of native people. Although Oakes
didn’t
succeed
in
obtaining
Alcatraz, the occupation established the sovereignty of Native American nations in U.S. policy and had a lasting effect
on
Native
independence
from
American the
U.S.
self-determination
and
government.
Richard Oakes continued his fight after leaving Alcatraz, enduring violence and jail time throughout his activism. In 1972, he was shot and killed at the age of 30.
Richard Oakes, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
“Hell hath no fury like a drag queen scorned.” Sylvia Ray Rivera (1951-2002) was one of the country’s first transgender activists and a seminal figure in the LGBT rights movement. Rivera, born in New York, was of Puerto Rican and Venezuelan descent. She was kicked out of her home because of her effeminate behavior, and began working as a prostitute on the streets of New York at the age of eleven. Eventually she found a home with a local community of drag queens. In the coming years, Rivera made a name for herself as an activist during the Civil Rights Movement and secondwave feminist movements, as well as playing a hand in the Stonewall Riots of 1969. Rivera was not fully accepted by the gay community or the women’s liberation movement as there was little appreciation in the early 1970s for transgender people. In her later years, Rivera would become spokesperson for gender-non-conforming people in the LGBT community, cofounding the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) in 1970. In 1994, she was honored at the march marking the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Rivera passed away in 2002 from liver cancer. Since then, she has been recognized with a street bearing her name in New York City, and tributes from LGBT community organizations. New York is also home to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, (SRLP), an organization that works to secure the rights of gender non-conforming people.
Sylvia Ray Rivera, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
"We used to joke about how long it took. But now a lot of people don't want the money. They want the land." Frank Lawrence, Standing Rock Tribal Chairman Marvin J. Sonosky (1909-1997), the artist’s great uncle, was a Washington, D.C. lawyer who championed the cause of Native Americans, serving as general counsel to the Sioux, Assiniboine, and Shoshone Tribes in Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas. At his funeral, the Tribes presented a special quilt in Sonosky's honour, noting that, had it been legal, they would have honored him with a headdress of eagle feathers. From 1956 to 1980, Sonosky waged the Sioux Nation's legal struggle for compensation of the government's seizure of the Black Hills in South Dakota. A virtually hopeless case previously rejected twice by the Court of Claims in 1923 and 1942, Sonosky lobbied two laws through Congress in the 1970s to reverse the earlier court rulings. In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Sioux Nation, awarding nearly $105 million for the Black Hills, but the tribes refused the compensation demanding the return of their sacred grounds. The vulnerability of the Sioux Nation land and their claim to it is still a vital issue today. The Dakota Access Pipeline threatens the clean water and ancient burial grounds on the land ascribed in Sonosky’s legal battle. Although Standing Rock protests of the pipeline resulted in the 2016 Obama administration refusal to grant an easement that would have provided final approval of the project, Trump’s 2017 Presidential memorandum expedited work on the pipeline. On October 10, 2017, after an oil spill from a similar pipeline, a federal judge ruled that the Dakota Access oil pipeline could continue operation while a study is completed to assess the environmental impact.
Marvin J. Sonosky, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
“I'm going to go over and get them out of the bunker myself. If the squad opens up on them, shoot 'em.” Hugh Thompson Jr. (1943-2006) was a helicopter pilot and Warrant Officer to the United States Army born in Atlan-ta, Georgia. Thompson was essential to stopping the My Lai Massacre of 1968, undertaken by his fellow Army soldiers during the Vietnam War. During the massacre, between 347 and 504 Vietnamese men, women, and children were slaughtered by the United States military. Flying over the scene, Thompson noticed the dead and wounded and landed his helicopter in the line of fire between American troops and fleeing Vietnamese civilians, pointing his own guns at the U.S. soldiers to prevent more killings. He then evacuated civilians against the orders of his superiors. Thompson went on to testify before Congress against the war criminals responsible for the massacre, shedding light on the unnecessary deaths caused by the United States’ presence in Vietnam. Thompson was recognized by the U.S. Government for his heroic actions and later received the “Soldier’s Medal”, which is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. Army for bravery not involving conflict with an enemy. Through the years, he continued to speak out, having been invited to West Point and other military installations to tell of the moral and legal obligations of soldiers in wartime. Thompson’s acts were selfless and humanitarian, disregarding orders being followed by his comrades in arms. For this reason, Thompson is one of America’s best examples of a war hero.
Hugh Thompson Jr., 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
“We are not cured of alcoholism. What we have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.� William Griffith Wilson (1895-1971), also known as Bill Wil-son or Bill W., co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous, a mutual aid organization with over twenty million members across the globe. Born in Vermont, Wilson had a long history of alcoholism in his family and suffered from bouts of depression throughout his life. During his military training in 1916, Wilson began drinking and became fond of its easing effects on his social anx-iety. His drinking soon spiraled out of control and became near constant, ruining his business and his reputation. He was admitted to hospitals over four times for his growing alcoholism and was eventually told that his addiction would lead to his death. After countless attempts to curb his addiction, Wilson was finally able to achieve sobriety through a spiritual recovery. Bill was forty-years-old when he stopped drinking. He would remain sober for the remaining 35 years of his life, spending most of his considerable energy and mental acumen in helping create one of the greatest social organizations ever known, Alcoholics Anonymous. He also became
the
writer
Anonymous: Twelve
of
the
Steps
and
book
Alcoholics
Twelve
Traditions,
and numerous articles and pamphlets. Wilson’s writings played a major role in how alcoholism is treated and has created struggling
an
invaluable
with addiction.
Bill Wilson, 2018 Oil on linen 12 x 9 inches
community
for
those
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