Join artist Lara Schnitger in a special participatory Creative Minds to celebrate female empowerment in a culture of patriarchy. On January 12, costumed volunteers will parade Schnitger’s bold and vibrant portable sculptures and banners, some bearing slogans and others more abstract—through the streets of downtown San José.

Dutch-American artist Lara Schnitger incorporates references to sexuality, fashion, and feminism to create hybrid interplays between sculpture, space, and costume. Embracing a variety of historical feminist dress in the Western world—from the conservatively clothed suffragettes at the turn of the twentieth century, to the T-shirts and jeans of second-wave feminism, to the topless activists of the Femen and SlutWalk movements in Europe—Schnitger uses lace, rhinestones, leather, and silk to create abstracted figures balanced between dress and undress. Her colored quilts are emblazoned with protest slogans from T-shirts, bumper stickers, and buttons.

Since 2015, Suffragette City has been performed in New York, Basel, Dresden, Los Angeles, and Berlin, as well as at the Women’s March in Washington, DC, in 2018. In San José, it will be presented as part of the exhibition Other Walks, Other Lines (November 2, 2018—March 10, 2019), extending the exhibition out into the streets. 

We are looking for volunteers to join us on January 12, in anticipation of the third national Women’s March, so that we can bring Suffragette City to life!

Participants should be able to walk at slow speed for an hour while carrying ten pounds. Men, women, and children welcome.

Click here to participate