Women of Influence: An Audio-Visual Work

Cruz, Maria Alexandra A.

My UnEssay project is a digital artwork featuring three significant women in the Anthro-in-Action Speaker Series. These are Henrietta Lacks (center), transwomen (left), and the young woman from Las Orquideas (right).

On the upper portion is the quote, “The future is female!” This goes with the aim of the artwork to bring the relevance of women in anthropology to light as they are capable of significant change. It also encompasses equality in general, especially on race, sex, and gender which the artwork touches on. For transwomen, they are represented with blue, pink, and white as the hair to resemble the LGBTQ+ flag for transgenders. Meanwhile, the skull represents the remains of the woman recovered from Las Orquideas with a native Ecuadorian headdress.

Henrietta, a key figure on breakthroughs in science and biological anthropology, was associated with the song, “Run the World” by Beyoncé. Because of her contribution, she literally ran the world as her cells certainly saved millions of lives. For the transwoman, I used “This Is Me” sung by Keala Seattle. The song magnifies how despite the hate and difficulty of living such a life, they are who they’ve always been meant to be. Lastly, for the Las Orquideas woman is “Perfect Places” by Lorde. The quoted lyric signifies her case, that it was what she took that brought her into light, thus the perfect place to highlighting her importance. Possibly, during her time, her fellowmen also saw that grave spot as a perfect place for someone like her.