Women’s Work: Organizing New York Independent Film & Video

Women’s work has historically referred to work that goes unnoticed and uncelebrated - keeping house, taking notes, planning events, making connections - often done in support of men. This exhibition reframes women’s work, showcasing and celebrating the organizing labor that enabled groundbreaking film, video, and community media collectives like Third World Newsreel, Paper Tiger Television, and Women Make Movies to pursue new forms of self expression and advocate for political change from the 1960s–1990s. This women’s work was done in support of other women, and often foregrounded images of women working in contexts from industrial laundries to sex work to activist marches. In addition to extended clips from the films, tv broadcasts, and videos themselves, the exhibition takes guests behind the scenes of independent media making through programming notes, DIY repair manuals, student and community planning documents, and other materials to tell the story of how media can be made and reach audiences outside the mainstream.

This exhibition was organized in conjunction with the “Women’s Work: Preserving Independent Film & Video Histories, Connecting Media Futures” signature program at the Institute for the Liberal Arts, Vassar College.

Support for this exhibition is provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Virginia Herrick Deknatel Fund, with additional support from Vassar’s Art Department and Film Department. Co-organized by Vassar faculty Erica Stein, John Hulsey, and Fabio Andrade; Noelle Griffis, faculty at Marymount Manhattan College; and Azra Dawood, the Loeb’s Curator of Academic Programs. There are works that appeared in this exhibition that were loans to the Loeb and therefore do not appear on this website.