I want to show a close-up view of the 1970s Women's Movement that hasn't been seen before and that speaks to the present moment.
Our visual record is incomplete. We know what the large East Coast demonstrations looked like and who the leaders were. But we haven't seen the small protests and private gatherings at the heart of the movement. In 1969, I was twenty-one, an undergraduate Fine Arts photography major at San Francisco State University, and an activist fighting sexism. I wanted to create a visual record of who we were and what we did, a record that merged fine arts photography and photojournalism. From 1969-1972, I shot more than 1,000 images of the Women's Movement in San Francisco. I also saved every feminist newsletter, flier or journal that I obtained, hundreds of pieces of ephemera.
I've preserved Change Has a Female Face for half a century, waiting for an opportunity to share it. It's rare to witness the beginning of any new movement, and I felt that this close-up view of second-wave feminism would add to our collective knowledge. I never imagined that more than 50 years later, women's rights would be under siege. Suddenly this project is infused with a sense of urgency.
I hope Change Has a Female Face helps preserve what women's collective action looked like in the 1970's and inspires the people who steer our present and shape our future.