Wives Tales

Wives Tales - Three altered commemorative plates, 9" diameter

In 1974, Avon awarded its representatives with the “Tenderness” commemorative plate. Featuring a curious choice of imagery for a corporation committed to helping women achieve their highest potential of economic opportunity (including educational scholarships and occupational training) the image on this plate imparts age old assumptions about womanhood; that becoming a mother is eventual for women and girls, motherhood is picturesque, and by imparting this to their staff- that working women are not exempt from holding themselves to this standard. As 1974 was the first year to follow the hard won battle for legal abortion and women’s access to birth control, I found the reifying of this imagery complicated. In 2012, I set to work gently altering the surfaces of three of these awards to create “Wives’ Tales”. On each plate different characters are omitted, creating opportunity to engage varied aspects of female identity in respect to motherhood for women and girls.