Victory Garden | Miss 2017
Miss 2017
Boxed portfolio of 11 embroidered sashes and letterpress poster
Limited edition of 15
By Louise Eastman, Jess Frost, Tara Geer, Katie Michel, Wendy Small, and Janis Stemmermann
SOLD OUT
In response to the overwhelming positive response to the original screen-printed sashes created for the Women’s March on Washington on January 21, 2017, Planthouse published Miss 2017, a deluxe commemorative portfolio of 11 embroidered sashes accompanied by a letterpress poster printed by Leslie Miller. Artists Louise Eastman, Jess Frost, Tara Geer, Katie Michel, Wendy Small, and Janis Stemmermann collaborated on the project, taking their cue from the British and American suffragette movements of the early 20th century in which colored sashes held specific symbolism: purple for loyalty and dignity and green for hope. Miss 2017 also references the Miss USA pageants, owned until 2015 by the current President of the United States. Returning the sash to a context of political commentary from one of objectification, the embroidered messages in Miss 2017 employ slogans like “Miss Represented” and “Miss Led.” The messages embody a resistance to the misogynistic rhetoric coming from the highest levels of government, and they reflect the artists’ frustrations with the attendant assault on women’s global health and reproductive rights.
In a desire to continue to build upon the momentum of the Women’s March, proceeds from Miss 2017 go towards funding future protest-oriented projects by Eastman, Frost, Geer, Michel, Small and Stemmermann. This boxed portfolio includes 11 custom-embroidered sashes and a letterpress poster with blind embossing commemorating the Women’s March. The project is published by Planthouse in an edition of 15.
Public Collections: New York Historical Society, New York, NY; The Beinecke Library, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; Jordan Schnitzer Collection, Portland, Oregon; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.