face mask monoprints, acrylic on travel scrapbook paper; 10×10” with accompanying poem

“We can’t travel now,
But no matter where you go
It’s all the same…

They whistle and holler,
Machismo-laden and on the prowl,
Sizing up all the women who pass by.

Standing on the corner
Telling girls to SMILE
And egging each other on.

They look each one up and down
Like a prize trophy kill,
Comparing whose catch is bigger.

As if you can tell the difference
Between a smile and a grimace
From under a face-mask.”

ARTIST BIO: Jennifer Weigel is a multi-disciplinary mixed media conceptual artist who utilizes a wide range of media to convey her ideas, including assemblage, drawing, fibers, installation, jewelry, painting, performance, photography, video and writing. Much of her work touches on themes of beauty, identity (especially gender identity), memory & forgetting, and institutional critique. Jennifer’s art has been exhibited nationally in all 50 states and has won numerous awards.