Vote for Democracy

October 13 — November 7, 2020

Vote for Democracy, a curated selection of work by Swedish-American artist Michele Pred.

In her artistic practice, Michele Pred uses sculpture, assemblage and performance to uncover the cultural and political meaning behind everyday objects, with a concentration on feminist themes such as equal pay, reproductive rights, and personal security. As Pred’s work implores us, now more than ever we must raise our voices to protect the freedom of all bodies, especially those historically disempowered. This exhibition is timed around a historical election, the outcome of which will determine the sociopolitical course of our nation for years to come. Pred’s body of work is a not only a vivid expression of the political climate, but a vital reminder of the power that the American people have to effect change and how important it is to exercise our right to vote.

Sculptural pieces from a series titled Power of the Purse include vintage purses emblazoned in neon with phrases culled from the current social resistance movements, such as Vote Feminist (2019) and call us to both reflection and action. In this context, the vintage mid-century purses become not only symbols of the modern economic power women hold and the possibilities for change that come with it, but also reminders of that critical era in the women’s movement. An altered vintage voting booth, Choices (2019), underscores the importance of exercising one of our primary civil rights—granted to women only within the last century—and the implications and impact that our political participation has on the autonomy of the disenfranchised.

In a recent interview, Pred stated:

Anti-progressive forces, sometimes directly and consciously, sometimes not, have been fighting back on a multitude of fronts, but most visibly on issues of what a woman can choose to do with her own body. My work, in part, tries to draw out attention to this wider context.