“I Voted for Shirley”, temporary text installation with twine at Friends of Distinction/Dan Graham, 1842 Glendale Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, December 2009 (photo credit: Audrey Chan)
On December 5, 2009, Vincent Ramos organized a performance event “1969″ that revisited the events of that same year. The evening also featured performances by Danielle Adair, Jason Kunke, Elana Mann, Emery Martin, and Women Vs Children (Greg Curtis and Diego Garza). The event took place at Dan Graham, a space run by artist Aaron Wrinkle at 1842 Glendale Boulevard in Echo Park, Los Angeles. The space was re-named “The Friends of Distinction” for the evening, after the LA-based R&B band who released their first album in 1969. Inside the gallery, a one-night exhibition called “The Sharon Show” featured Jeff Brady, Chris Ellis, Kelly Kleinschrodt, LauraLee Pope, Tracy Powell, Carly Steward, David Weldzius, and Rosha Yaghmai.
For the occasion, I revisited the legacy of Shirley Chisholm, who served her first term in the House of Representatives as the first elected black female Congresswoman in 1969, representing New York’s 12th Congressional District for seven terms until 1983. On January 25, 1972, she became the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination under the campaign slogan “Unbought and Unbossed.” (Richard Nixon won the election.)
I wanted to honor Shirley Chisholm with a commemorative embroidery. With the assistance of Susy Chan and Emery Martin, I laced the phrase “I VOTED FOR SHIRLEY” in household twine onto the face of the gallery space. The message was visible to hundreds of motorists driving along Glendale Boulevard. It was a message of hope and a reminder to us forty years later, during Barack Obama’s first term as President, that there’s still much work to be done.
