Anonymous was a Woman VI 1977

Miriam Schapiro made this print, Anonymous Was a Woman VI, and like her other works, it reminds us that artmaking is always a process of revealing and concealing. I love how Schapiro plays with positive and negative space. On one side, we see the doily's dark and intricate pattern, almost like a shadow, while on the other, there's a ghostly, pale impression of the same form. It’s as if she’s asking us to consider what's present and what's absent, what's visible and what's hidden. The texture is so important here. You can almost feel the delicate, lacy quality of the doily, the way it would feel in your hands. Schapiro’s been described as a feminist artist, and you can read this as a commentary on the kinds of labor that have historically been relegated to women - domestic crafts, needlework, things that are often overlooked or devalued. But here, she elevates it, gives it presence, makes us see the beauty and skill in something so seemingly simple. It has something of Eva Hesse’s approach to materials about it, the way she transformed everyday materials into something extraordinary. Ultimately, this work asks us to embrace ambiguity, to find meaning in the subtle nuances of form and texture.