Artivisim, researching and (re)thinking our stories

Posted on 16 April 2024

We are taking a moment to reflect on the past year and on the outstanding work of our FRACS Team. Masters and PhD students at CWS join the team every year to help plan, organise and run social, career, academic, and activist events and activities.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

On International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (November 25th), the team created an art installation inspired by Monica Mayer’s exhibition ‘El tendedero (the clothesline)’. Stringing up rows of pink notecards, they invited passers by to write answers to a series of questions designed to facilitate dialogue and give a voice and a name to the violence experienced by women.

Weaving Resistance

Students came together to learn about feminist resistance in Gaza and to engage in their own artivism. Creating a space for dialogue, recognizing the struggles and resistance of feminist groups like Women in Black, the session emphasised unity and support. Attendees painted pieces of fabric that were pieced together into a blanket of support and resistance, a way to show our solidarity.

International Women’s Day
Following the beautiful CWS conference Sisterhood in Action, which took place on
International Women’s Day (March 8th), students organised a march, dressed in purple, to raise their voices and speak about the issues impacting them and their communities.

Archive of Feminist Feelings
Inspired by Ann Cvetkovich’s An Archive of Feelings, we launched our own Archive of
Feminist Feelings. An ongoing project to mark the 40th anniversary of CWS, it creates space to discuss materiality and affect, and to take seriously those ephemeral objects that have accompanied us on our feminist journeys.

CWS Podcast
We have a podcast in the works, another 40th anniversary endeavour, to gather an oral history of the Centre for Women’s Studies from past staff, students and local community members.