Ms. | Article | Roxy Szal

We Heart: The Collaborative Art Project Celebrating Women’s Suffrage

Award-winning artist Marilyn Artus will be traveling the country this summer to honor the upcoming centennial of women’s suffrage in the U.S. with a defiant act of patriotism—remixing the American Flag in collaboration with other artists with the goal of turning it into a piece of feminist art.

Her 14-month tour will follow the historic trail of the Nineteen Amendment’s ratification—beginning in Madison, Wisconsin on June 10th and rounding out in Nashville, Tennessee on August 18th. The Nashville stop will also serve as an unveiling of HER Flag—and mark the exact date, 100 years before, that Tennessee ushered in the historic national victory for women’s suffrage.

Artus launched a crowdfunding drive for her feminist art tour on iFundWomen, a platform for feminist projects, on International Women’s Day. When she hits the road this summer, you can follow along on Facebook or Instagram.

36 women artists who live in each of the 36 states that ratified the Nineteenth Amendment will design each stripe on HER Flag, which Artus will then stitch together in each state’s capitol city.

Notable participants in the project include Utah’s Jann Haworth, co-designer of The Beatle’s “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album cover, which went on to win a Grammy; New Hampshire’s Nicole LaRue, who designed the official Women’s March on Washington logo; and New York artist Indira Cesarine, whose Untitled Space art gallery has been celebrated for feminist exhibitions including “One Year of Resistance” and “Uprise Angry Women.”

“This project is about moving forward,” Artus wrote on the HER Flag website. “This project is not about Democrats or Republicans. It is about Americans. It is about celebrating an important anniversary in our history. And it is about evaluating how we can encourage more women to run for political office.”