The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

An acclaimed performance artist and activist, Mahogany L. Browne is the Executive Director of JustMedia, a media literacy initiative with a focus on the criminal legal system. Vinyl Moon, Chlorine Sky, Woke: A Young Poets Call to Justice, Woke Baby, Black Girl Magic, and I Remember Death By Its Proximity to What I Love are among her books for readers of all ages. Browne is also the founder of Woke Baby Book Fair, a traveling diverse reading campaign.

The five poets selected for this series each bring their varied perspectives from a diverse range of backgrounds and will read selections that reflect the role feminist writers, artists, and leaders have played in their practices. A talkback and book signing will follow each reading.

This series is organized in connection with the group exhibition 52 Artists: A Feminist Milestone. It celebrates the fifty-first anniversary of the historic exhibition Twenty Six Contemporary Women Artists, curated by Lucy R. Lippard and presented at The Aldrich in 1971. The exhibition will showcase work by the artists included in the original 1971 exhibition, alongside a new roster of twenty-six female identifying or nonbinary emerging artists, tracking the evolution of feminist art practices over the past five decades. 52 Artists will encompass the entirety of the Museum—the first exhibition to do so in The Aldrich’s new building which was inaugurated in 2004.

52 Artists: A Feminist Milestone is on view from June 6, 2022 through January 8, 2023. The exhibition is organized by Aldrich Senior Curator Amy Smith-Stewart and independent curator Alexandra Schwartz, with Aldrich Curatorial Assistant and Publications Manager Caitlin Monachino

This program is co-sponsored by The Ridgefield Library and the Ridgefield Poet Laureate.