FEBRUARY 20, 2009                                                                        The Boston Courant

 

Construction Exhibit

Works for Suffolk

 

 

Boston Women’s Commissioner Marie Turley, artist Susan Eisenberg,

Suffolk assistant professor of history Pat Reeve and John Laughlin of

the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council

#35 gather with “Stella” at the opening reception for On Equal Terms

 

by Georgina Coolidge

Courant News Writer

 

A multimedia installation examining the issues facing women in construction is on exhibit at Suffolk University’s Adams Gallery.

The exhibit, “On Equal Terms,” coincides with the 30th anniversary of affirmative action for women in the construction industry.

Poet, artist and author Susan Eisenberg created the installation based upon her experiences as a union electrician and the stories she heard from other women while researching her book, We’ll Call You If We Need You: Experiences of Women Working Construction. The book, which was a New York Times Notable Book, was published in 1998.

The installation is an expansion on an earlier project called “Not on a Silver Platter,” which was on display at the AFL-CIO George Meany Center for Labor Studies in Silver Spring, Maryland in 1993, Eisenberg said.

The mixed-media installation is a combination of soft sculpture, poetry, photography, found objects and audio elements.

With the exhibit, Eisenberg said she hopes to convey “the sense of that vulnerability and isolation one can feel on a job site where women aren’t welcome.”

“[I wanted to give] a sense of the elements of a construction site and to really celebrate the craft and the trade,” she added.

Eisenberg combined realistic and “fanciful” pieces in the installation, including a life-size figure called “Stella,” which is displayed climbing a ladder and wearing a diamond hardhat. The face of the figure, Eisenberg said, is a collage of photographs of tradesmen’s faces.

“I was really interested in how the [different experiences] make a whole,” she said.

Other items in the installation include a cake decorated with small plastic tools and a quote from a tradeswoman, as well as large quotes from various tradeswomen displayed on the walls.

Before coming to Suffolk University, the installation was on exhibit at the Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University. Eisenberg said she has received strong feedback about the exhibit and that several other institutions have contacted her about potentially showing the installation.

“I feel like it’s reopened the conversation somewhat about why more women aren’t involved in this industry, and I would hope that it would make people ask how they can change that,” Eisenberg said.

The exhibit is on display through Tuesday, March 17. The Adams Gallery is located in the Suffolk University Law School at 120 Tremont Street.