Artists and Staff at the Opening of Kniznick Gallery's "A Gathering: Gardens, Portals, Protests" Participants from left to right, front to back: Eva Zasloff, Dara Benno, Kate Holcomb Hale, Lu Heintz, Crystalle Lacouture. Next row: Olivia Baldwin, Marisa Finos, Harleen Singh, Damien Hoar de Galvan, Kristy Hughes, Destiny Palmer, Liza Bingham Photo by Elizabeth Ellenwood Photography.
The WSRC’s 2024-25 student staff, Emma Stewart, Maia Lefferman and Sam Brower, with artist Andrea Bowers’ participatory work, “Political Ribbons (Brandeis University),” 2024. Silkscreen on satin ribbons, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, and Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco. Presented in “Wrongs & RIGHTS,” curated by Laura Dvorkin and Maynard Monrow.
Tiziana Dearing, Host of WBUR’s "Morning Edition" and WSRC Director Harleen Singh in conversation at a WSRC event.
The Women’s Studies Research Center (WSRC) at Brandeis University is a hub of interdisciplinary exchange between scholars, artists, faculty, and students, who conduct innovative research and create art with a focus on gender issues and women’s lives.
The WSRC, which hosts the Kniznick Gallery, the Scholars Program, and the Student-Scholar Partnership Program, advances knowledge, public dialogue, and social justice through interdisciplinary inquiry and the creative arts.
Current Happenings at the Center
Photo Credit: photography by Elizabeth Ellenwood Photography
The current multi-artist show in the Kniznick gallery, “A Gathering: Gardens, Portals, Protests”, was recently reviewed in Art Spiel and received glowing reviews. From the article written by Adria Arch:
“Why do we need art in this moment? What art sustains both practitioners and audience in difficult times? These urgent questions pulse at the heart of curator and artist Olivia Baldwin’s extraordinary exhibition at the Kniznick Gallery, part of Brandeis University’s Women’s Studies Center—and the answers she’s assembled are luminous.
In an era where artists grapple with creating meaningful work amid political turbulence and global fragility, Baldwin has curated something rare: a collection that doesn’t merely respond to our moment but transforms it.”
Read the article and then come to the Women’s Studies Research Center Kniznick Gallery to experience it for yourself.
Susan Eisenberg on stage with other pin awardees
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 103 held their pin night in Dorchester recently, and Susan EIsenberg, a WSRC Scholar, was awarded her 45-year-pin. Women were allowed to start working for the IBEW in 1978, when President Carter issued affirmative action regulations that opened construction industry jobs and apprenticeships to women. After graduating apprenticeship 4 years later, Susan began her professional career. Congratulations to Susan on her impressive achievement!
The WSRC is proud to announce WSRC Scholar Heather Treseler's "Auguries and Divinations" Poems is included in the longlist for the a 2025 Mass Book Award for Poetry LongForm, and WSRC Scholar Marjan Kamali's "The Lion Women of Tehran" was also chosen as part of the longlist for the 2025 Mass Book Award Fiction Longlist awardee. In the company of other talented writers, both Scholar's works are available for purchase online and at local bookstores. You are encouraged to read and treasure both.
March 20, 2025
WSRC Scholar Heather Treseler will be launching her chapbook, Hard Bargain, in Boston with Ireland's General Consul, Sighle FitzGerald, at the consul’s residence on Marlborough Street on Friday, April 4, 2025. Hard Bargain was one of two manuscripts begun at the WSRC, and is the second to arrive in print. The chap explores some of the cruxes in women's lives in mythology, art history, medical history, and family lore, and the relationships between mothers and daughters. Poems in it have appeared in many journals (Journal of the American Medical Assoc., Missouri Review, The Hopkins Review, PN Review, Southern Humanities Review, etc.), and Plume recently published three with a short artist's statement.
March 3, 2025
Mass Cultural Council believes creativity has the power to transform society and make our state (Massachusetts) a better place to live, work, and thrive. Grants for Creative Individuals are unrestricted grants of $5,000 to Massachusetts artists, culture bearers, and creative practitioners to equitably advance creative expression throughout our diverse communities. Through this most recent round of applications, grants were awarded to current WSRC Scholar Margaret Gullette for the field of literature, current WSRC Scholar Susan Eisenberg for the field of literature, and alum WSRC Scholar Karin Rosenthal for the field of photography.
January 27, 2025
In BBC's "History's Youngest Heroes", actress Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton, Derry Girls) tells twelve true stories of rebellion, risk and the radical power of youth. This show is part of BBC's "History's Heroes": the BBC's breathtaking, high stakes, story-led history podcast feed that shines a light on extraordinary people from across history.
This episode, released on January 27, 2025 shares the story of Rani Lakshmi Bai: The Warrior Queen. When her kingdom is threatened, a 22-year-old Indian woman takes on the British Empire on horseback, with a sword in each hand. WSRC Director Harleen Singh provides background and insight into this extrordinary person.
History's Heroes is a BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
January 23, 2025
Award-winning writer and public health executive Michelle Bowdler, also a WSRC Scholar, has recently published a piece "How Do We Make Sense of a World that Disregards Sexual Violence?" in the commentary section of Cognoscenti on WBUR, a Boston local news station. Please link to the article HERE to read her timely and insightful communication. Michelle Bowdler is the author of "Is Rape a Crime? A Memoir, an Investigation and a Manifesto," longlisted for the National Book Award in Nonfiction and named a 100 Must Read Book by Time Magazine.
Photo Credit: artist Donna Dodson
December 10, 2024
An interview with Donna Dodson has been published in Art New England's November/December issue. Located on page 14, writer B. Amore visited her studio and had a lively conversation. Please check it out!
“The Circe Effect: Women’s Creative Power Reclaims the Narrative”, is a group exhibition at the Hotchkiss School's Tremaine Art Gallery, with WSRC Scholar Donna Dodson, among others. The exhibit is inspired by themes explored in the best-selling novel “Circe” by Madeline Miller, and the artists seek to address the issues surrounding the idea of when women orchestrate the narrative, stereotypes are challenged and recast. Find out more about this artistically thought-provoking exhibit.
January 2025: The University of Chicago Press has nominated Margaret Gullette's book "American Eldercide: How It Happened, How to Prevent It" for a Pulitzer in nonfiction and the National Book Award. Read more about Margaret Gullette's newly published book.
1/9/25: Margaret Gullette has been interviewed on the American Society for Ageing website, on reasons why she decided to write "American Eldercide". Link here to read
In Made in NuYoRico, Marisol Negrón tells the cultural history of salsa, tracing the music’s Nuyorican meanings over a fifty-year period... and how it capitalized on salsa’s Nuyorican imaginary to cultivate a global audience. Read more about Marisol Negron's newest offering.
WSRC Scholar and accomplished author Marjan Kamali has published a new book, “The Lion Women of Tehran.” With glowing industry reviews from Oprah Daily and bestselling authors, this novel is not be missed. Read more about "The Lion Women of Tehran".
WSRC scholar Dr. Edith Chears has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award to Zimbabwe for the 2024-2025 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Learn more about Dr. Edith Chears' award.
Current Exhibition at the Kniznick Gallery
On View: Sept. 12, 2024 - Jan. 30, 2025
"Wrongs & RIGHTS" brings together five decades of work supporting the intergenerational battle for reproductive rights, while speaking in a wider sense to the erosion of rights in America after the June 2022 overturn of Roe v. Wade.