It all started with a map.
Former First Lady of South Carolina Rachel Hodges was given a map of New York City, but with one major change: all of the subway stops had been renamed for women. The effect was jarring—and thought-provoking.
What would the world look like, she wondered, if the achievements of women and men had been celebrated equally throughout history?
Inspired by this idea, City of Women Greenville and Greenville Center for Creative Arts are teaming up to shine a spotlight on women from the past and the present who have made significant contributions to our city. The City of Women exhibition, featuring 50 pioneering women creatively rendered by area artists, opens March 4 with a reception and will be on display in the Community Gallery at GCCA through April 27.
“This is one of the most fulfilling projects we have worked on,” says Kim Fabian, executive director at GCCA.
Organizers, including event partner Furman University, created a list of inspiring women who represent a variety of fields, from business to education to health care, but they also encouraged the artists to tell the story of any woman who made—or is still making—an impact. “You know the phrase, ‘If you can see it, you can be it,’” says event organizer Karen Mawhinney. “This is one way to show women and young girls the things they can be.”
Hodges, who had received the subway map—as reimagined by writers Rebecca Solnit and Joshua Jelly-Schapiro—as a Christmas gift from her son, hosted the first Columbia City of Women event in 2019.
Since then, the group has hosted a variety of programs including She Did Day, which honors and celebrates women.
When Mawhinney, a managing director at EP + Co., heard about the Columbia initiative, she knew she had found a passion project. “I just thought it was a great mission to honor the legacy of our women who have been making Greenville this awesome place and to use it as inspiration for the future generations,” she says. More than 50 submissions poured in, in a variety of mediums, and juror Jonell Logan, creative director of the McColl Center for Art + Innovation in Charlotte, curated the show.
The initial City of Women Greenville event was slated for March 16, 2020, “so the timing couldn’t have been worse,” Mawhinney says, as the pandemic forced her team to recalibrate their plans. But the time allowed Greenville City of Women to build on relationships with a variety of partners, including Furman University and Greenville Center for the Creative Arts, and a new plan emerged: “We can tap our local community artists to showcase these stories,” Mawhinney says.
City of Women, March 4–April 27. GCCA Community Gallery, 101 Abney St, Greenville. (864) 735-3948, artcentergreenville.org
