If she isn’t working miracles

( 2013 - 2016 )

We are still asking servicewomen the same question asked of Joan of Arc in the 15th century; if she isn't working miracles, what is she doing on the battlefield?

On January 23, 2013 the US military rescinded the combat ban for servicewomen, but due to the fluid nature of modern warfare, female-identifying service members were already serving in combat-adjacent posts. Though, only through formal combat experience were certain health support services and career promotions available.

(Above) a cell phone image of a sexual harassment poster that was defaced (drawing on the eyes and around the mouth, as well as holes from the pushpins that held the poster to the board), this poster was found in an elevator at Ft. Lee, near Richmond, Virginia. Photographed November 7, 2013.

“First there was Helen of Sparta, who did it only with oil, no one knows how; then there was Maggie of England, who even on the battlefield put men back together; and then there was Rose of the deepest South, who stood up in her father’s clothes and walked out of the house and herself.

Disguised women were always among them. They badly wanted to wear blue, they badly wanted to wear red, they wanted to blend with the woods or ground. Together with men they were blown from their pronouns.”

- Patricia Lockwood Excerpt “List of Cross-Dressing Soldiers”

In Tuesday 0713, much like the discussion of how problematic the perspective of sentimentality is in Melissa Smyth’s 2015 essay, “On Sentimentality: A Critique of Humans of New York.” I want to make my observer status plain. I acknowledge that a situation changes when I ask to photograph and, as is the nature of the camera, mine is the perspective that is forced. With the exception of Gender Panic after Action Pants, these photographs have all been made in a similar way; without intervening on the actions of the subject. This way of working also looks like journalism. The difference being, as illustrated in this image, I am clarifying the direction of my research.

This thesis work was made despite the abuse received from faculty. The letter below went unanswered by school of the arts administrators when my complaint was filed in 2020. In violation of Title IX, I have yet to receive any response. Complaint Regarding Abuse by Faculty