With my early work I got eviscerated by my male professors, and so you learned to disguise your impulses, as many women have done. And thats definitely changed.
Judy ChicagoRead
Once I knew that I wanted to be an artist, I had made myself into one. I did not understand that wanting doesn't always lead to action. Many of the women had been raised without the sense that they could mold and shape their own lives, and so, wanting to be an artist (but without the ability to realize their wants) was, for some of them, only an idle fantasy, like wanting to go to the moon.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Desiring to be something is not enough; one must actively pursue it and overcome societal limitations to turn dreams into reality.
Judy Chicago's quote reflects on the reality that simply wishing to attain a goal, such as becoming an artist, is insufficient without directed action and empowerment. It highlights the struggles faced by women who were socialized to believe they had no agency in shaping their lives, illustrating that their aspirations may seem like distant fantasies without the opportunity or courage to enact change.
Themes
ArtDreamsAgencyWomenActionEmpowerment
In practice
Example use cases
During a women's empowerment workshop.
More from Judy Chicago
All quotes →Because we are denied knowledge of our history, we are deprived of standing upon each other's shoulders and building upon each other's hard earned accomplishments. Instead we are condemned to repeat what others have done before us and thus we continually reinvent the wheel. The goal of The Dinner Party is to break this cycle.
Judy ChicagoRead
I am trying to make art that relates to the deepest and most mythic concerns of human kind and I believe that, at this moment of history, feminism is humanism.
Judy ChicagoRead
Because men have a history, it is difficult for them to imagine what it is like to grow up without one, or the sense of personal expansion that comes from discovering that we women have a worthy heritage. Along with pride often comes rage – rage that one has been deprived of such a significant knowledge.
Judy ChicagoRead
Ah, well, do I wish that we lived in a world where gender didn't figure so prominently? Of course. Do I even think about myself as a woman when I go to make art? Of course not.
Judy ChicagoRead
Even if I am simply one more woman laying one more brick in the foundation of a new and more humane world, it is enough to make me rise eagerly from my bed each morning and face the challenge of breaking the historic silence that has held women captive for so long.
Judy ChicagoRead
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