Donna Dodson

 2020 felt almost apocalyptic, rife with divisive politics, racial unrest and a Pandemic that took over half a million American lives. Yet, on the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, history was made when a woman was elected Vice President, ushering in an era of hope as more women rise to take leadership roles in all fields. It is fitting that Wonder Woman celebrates her 80th year as America’s most famous heroine in 2021. The world needs heroines now, and Dodson creates them for this exhibition.

In her new series of wood sculptures, Dodson re-imagines Albrecht Durer’s “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” as Amazon warriors. She uses the traditional medium of woodcarving to suggest that these women have always been among us, but that gender misconceptions have prevented us from recognizing them. Drawing inspiration from legendary warrior women such as the ancient Amazons of the steppes, the Dahomey of West Africa and the Rani of Jhansi, Dodson’s amazons portray courage, strength and grit. Dodson chose to collaborate with artists Trina Baker and Kledia Spiro, and poet K. Melchor Quick Hall, because of their commitment to social justice. Dodson, Baker, Hall and Spiro are united in their quests to create a new iconography of female empowerment.

In Dodson’s collaboration with Baker, whose work deals with sexual assault and domestic violence, the artists translate Dodson’s Amazon warrior sculptures into three-dimensional digital characters and create a short animation demonstrating their superhero qualities. To continue this project, Dodson has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award in the Visual Arts for the 2021-2022 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. In Vienna Austria, Dodson will be an artist in residence at Tricky Women, the world’s only digital animation studio for women, to write the storyboard and script. Watch a snippet of the animation “Alpha Female Embodies Wonder Woman” here.

Spiro feels a deep connection to the fictional character Xena, the Warrior Princess. For this exhibition, she premieres sculptures, photographs, and a two-channel video in honor of Xena. Audience members will have the opportunity to wear Spiro’s interactive sculpture. Spiro wonders whether we can become our own superheroes, particularly as “girls”. Can we unchain women from society’s expectations of mothers, good house wives, eroticized objects, and irrational emotional beings? Watch Kledia’s performances online here.

Hall responds to Dodson’s sculptures and themes of super-heroism and able-bodied-ness with several prose poems on display as part of the exhibition. Hall’s poems address the gendered contrasts of strength and weaknesses, youthfulness and aging as well as the protection of self and others in relationships. Read Hall’s poems here.

This exhibition offers the audience inspiring words and images of women to uplift and inspire the amazons among us who have yet to discover their own superpowers. Read more about the exhibition, and watch the recorded virtual programs here.

The Alpha Female was the first one in my new series about the Amazons. She has an eagle head, because the nomadic women of the ancient steppes used female golden eagles to hunt. This sculpture is dedicated to one of the first forty women to join the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps during WWII from Illinois, my great aunt Alice. The eagle head on my sculpture has many meanings in this piece, serving as a patriotic symbol honoring Alice’s military service. The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps eventually became the US Air Force, and they used Athena's helmet as the official insignia on their uniforms. Since ancient Amazons had tattoos, I gave this sculpture a tattoo of Athena's helmet on her calf. I made metallic breast shields on my sculpture to celebrate the lineage of women warriors—who were often portrayed with breast shields— from ancient times to the present day. My sculpture is wearing shoes similar to the ones found in historic photographs of women in uniform during World War II.

Based on the Dahomey of West Africa, that were often referred to as Amazons, and inspired by the fictional women warriors of Wakanda in the movie Black Panther; my sculptures represent my contemporary vision of Amazons. Black Panther (above) and Cybele (below) address the erasure of the love interest shared by two women generals that was present in the comic strip but absent in the movie. Amazons were associated with the goddess Cybele, who is often depicted seated in a throne flanked by lions or driving a chariot drawn by lions. These two sculptures have matching tattoos of a paw print inside a women’s symbol. Cybele has two crossing labrys on her chariot that reference the historic weapons of the Amazon warriors and the lesbian feminist axe.

Part rebellious queen, part goddess and part national heroine, the story of Laxmibai or the Rani of Jhansi belongs to everyone and no one. It is told and retold anew in every generation. The mythical story of her leap from the walls of her kingdom with her son bound to her back onto her horse as she fled the British has inspired numerous interpretations in art. My contemporary vision restages this composition with a twist- both figures have been transformed into part Bengal tiger- part human figures. Referencing the fierce nature of tigers, the loving protection of a mother for her child, the national pride of India and the profound courage of womankind, this sculpture inspires awe for one of history's amazing warrior women.