Betsy Damon, 7,000 Year Old Woman, performance at Cayman Gallery, New York, March 21, 1977. Archival print ©Betsy Damon 1977/2021. Courtesy of the artist
BETSY DAMON
PASSAGES: RITES AND RITUALS
curated by Monika Fabijanska
traveling to
Eckert Art Gallery at Millersville University
Winter Visual & Performing Arts Center
60 West Cottage Avenue
Millersville, PA 17551
February 29 – May 2, 2024
Opening Reception - Thursday, February 29, 5–7 PM
Betsy Damon in conversation with Dr. Christine Filippone, 4 PM
Gallery Hours: Tue – Sat, 12–5 PM; Thu, 12–8 PM
Closed during holidays and academic breaks
Originally presented at:
La MaMa Galleria
47 Great Jones Street
New York, NY 10003
October 14 – November 21, 2021
Thu – Sun, 1–7 PM
Opening reception: Thursday, October 14, 6-8 PM
Press Day - Friday, October 15, 1-4 PM
Conversation with the artist - Wednesday, October 20, 7 PM
Performance Listen, Respect, Revere - Wed., Oct. 27, 7 PM - RSVP
A Gathering: Talking with Water - Thu., Nov. 18, 7 PM - RSVP
Curatorial walkthrough - Sat. & Sun., Nov. 20-21, 2 PM
PRESS KIT
IMAGES
ABOUT THE ARTIST
BETSY DAMON’S PUBLIC PERFORMANCES
EXHIBITION PRESS
INSTALLATION IMAGES
AVAILABLE WORKS
Passages: Rites and Rituals is the first exhibition of Betsy Damon’s radical performance practice (1976-86). It will feature the documentation of eight public performances, as well as Body Masks – erotic photographs from a 1976 private performative session, which have never been presented publicly.
Activism and community-building have been central to Damon’s feminist practice since the 1970s. A leader among lesbian activists in New York, she co-edited the third issue of Heresies, Lesbian Art and Artists (1977), and participated in the first lesbian art show in the U.S. (1978), curated by Harmony Hammond at 112 Greene Street, and The Great American Lesbian Art Show at the Woman's Building in Los Angeles (1980). Her early performances addressed the erasure of women’s narratives from history (Blind Beggarwoman, 1979-80, alluding to Homer), and gender-based violence (7,000 Old Year Woman, 1977-78; Rape Memory, 1978-79; What Do You Think About Knives?, 1980-81). Their non-conformist courage consists not just in their subjects but – strikingly – also taking them out to the streets of New York and other cities, often without an institutional umbrella. All of them placed woman’s agency in the center of the public space. Her performances as healing rituals soon grew to include concern for the environment (A Shrine for Everywoman, 1980-88 and Meditations with Stones for the Survival of the Planet, 1982-late 1980s), and she devoted her later practice to public space projects focused on preserving living water.
Today, Betsy Damon (American, b. 1940) is among the most relevant pioneer ecofeminist artists; her social practice attracting a growing interest globally. The exhibition will show how the distinctive vocabulary of Damon’s performances – performing outdoors in city streets, inviting audience and other artists’ collaboration, employing archetypes and elements of ritual, and her engagement with transnational feminism - informed the development of her later ecofeminist social practice.
Betsy Damon. Passages: Rites and Rituals features Body Masks (1976), 7,000 Year Old Woman (1977-78), Rape Memory (1978-79), Blind Beggarwoman (1979-80), What Do You Think About Knives? (1980-81), Meditations on Knives (1981), A Shrine for Everywoman (1980-88), Meditation with Stones for the Survival of the Planet (1982-late 1980s), and Listen, Respect, Revere (1986). The exhibition comprises photographs, videos, documents, and contemporaneous descriptions of these performances by artists who participated in them, such as Su Friedrich, Amy Sillman, Marcia Grubb, Harmony Hammond, and Betsy Damon herself.
Betsy Damon. Passages: Rites and Rituals is presented by La MaMa Galleria. Generous funding for the exhibition is provided by an anonymous benefactor and the NYC City Artist Corps grant. Special thanks to Jim and Mary Mattingly. The curator is grateful to Mia Yoo, Adriana Farmiga and Michael Boyd for keeping their hearts – and La MaMa doors – open to experimental performance art.
PUBLIC PROGRAMS:
Thursday, October 14, 6-8 PM
Opening reception
Wednesday, October 20, 7 PM (gallery opens for the audience at 6 PM)
Betsy Damon in conversation with Monika Fabijanska
Wednesday, October 27, 7 PM (gallery opens for the audience at 6 PM)
Performance by Betsy Damon, Listen, Respect, Revere (1986)
Thursday, November 18, 7 PM
A Gathering: Talking with Water. Seeking Radical Imagination.
Led by artists Betsy Damon and sTo Len. RSVP
Saturday, November 20, 2 PM
Sunday, November 21, 2 PM
Exhibition walkthrough with the curator; Betsy Damon will be present to answer questions
PRAISE FOR BETSY DAMON:
“This was the year when public awareness of ecocide reached at least an orange alert level. Direct response from museums and galleries remained muted, with notable exceptions being “Diane Burko: Seeing Climate Change,” a solo exhibition of paintings at the Katzen Arts Center of American University in Washington (through Dec. 12); and a survey of early work by the ecofeminist artist Betsy Damon at La MaMa Galleria in Manhattan.”
- Holland Cotter, Best Art Exhibitions of 2021, The New York Times
"...what comes through is her embrace of vulnerability and commitment to community. She opened herself up and challenged others to as well — and the photos suggest that she succeeded. One picture shows a group of people watching her performance “Blind Beggarwoman” (1979-80) on Wall Street. They seem to regard the art with skepticism but are also transfixed, a reluctant audience unwilling to look away."
- Jillian Steinhauer, The New York Times
“Betsy Damon’s current solo show in New York successfully frames her as a pioneer of such a healing practice, and as a key artist through which to consider the relationship between art and activism.”
- Alex A. Jones, The Brooklyn Rail
"...the exhibition is an impressive historical record of an artist whose work exposed that the exploitation of women and the exploitation of nature are done through the same structures. Ultimately, Damon’s feminist performance practice lay the groundwork for a greater goal: environmental activism."
- Ksenia M. Soboleva, Hyperallergic
“…American artist Betsy Damon’s work came to me as a reminder of the consciousness we all participate in. At a time when we were experiencing the mercury pollution of our rivers in Kodaikanal (India) by Unilever, curator Monika Fabijanska introduced to me Damon’s work exploring the nature of water and our relationship with it. Damon’s portfolio is a reminder of the sanctity of water, a reminder that we are birthed from it, made of it, and cultivated with it. Damon went on to deepen her inquiry into water through her creative practice which sits atop a strong foundation built by her performance art works.”
- Shraddha Nair, STIR (India)
