Lesbians are Miracles

March 11, 2021

DAYDREAMS & FANTASIESThis March, in arm’s reach of that first, hopeful glimmer at the end ofwhat has been a long and dark tunnel, we celebrate going inward—toreconnect with our imagination, our inspiration, our joy, ourcreativity, our power.
The work in this issue represents the divine, the fantastical, thesurreal, the sublime. It is a reflection of the daydreams and fantasies
that sustain us through our struggles, upsets, and setbacks. As wintergives way to spring and we begin once again to venture outside of ourhomes and ourselves, may we keep the playful, uninhibited,
inquisitive, adventurous spirit of our inner child never too far fromreach.
Your friend in shadows and in light,
Lia Ottaviano
Lesbians are Miracles

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DAYDREAMS & FANTASIESIn Conversation with Patricia Cronin

Patricia Cronin is an internationally recognized lesbian artist whose work explores same sex marriage, female
desire, gender equality, social justice, and the experiences of girls and women around the world. She lives and works inBrooklyn, NY and is a Professor of Art at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. We had theopportunity to speak with her about representation, poetic protest, lesbian authored artwork, and creating for an
LGBTQ+ audience. Discover more of her work at www.patriciacronin.net and find her on Instagram @patriciacronin.

What was your impetus for creating Memorial To A Marriage?
In 2002 I created Memorial To A Marriage, the first andonly Marriage Equality monument in theworld, in response tothe lack of real, specific women represented
in public monuments
in New York City andthe United States government’s prohibitionof same-sex marriage.
Basically, national andlocal governments
denying my existence.
It was an untenable
legal and civic reality,
and it needed a poetic
political protest workin proportion appropriate to the scale ofthe problems.

couples to wed. The challenge of this work was to strike abalance between a high level of sophisticated, formal execution and pointed political protest. I purchased our burial
plot in Woodlawn
Cemetery, Bronx, NY,
an American National
Historic Landmark, anddesigned as America’s
Père Lachaise Cemetery, and permanently
installed the sculpture
on our future finalresting place. By buying
my own land, my realburial plot (!), I also
addressed the scarcity of real women (asopposed to allegorical
female forms) honoredin public monuments inNew York City.

The world does notseem very tolerant rightCan you talk to us
now, systemic racism
about your process forhas been on full display,bringing this piece into
and the reckoning has
being?
finally come: Black
Lives Matter, #Metoo,
I sculpted this three#TimesUp, and Black
ton Carrara marble,
Trans Lives Matter
mortuary sculpture ofrallies. Although themyself and my (now)Supreme Court overwife to simulate a few
turned the Defense ofof the 1,200-rights
Marriage Act in 2013,
heterosexual marriage
making the Unitedaffords. In 2000 whenStates the 29th country
I began this project,in the world, out of 195
same-sex couples
countries, to legally
could only acquire
recognize same sex
Memorial To A Marriage, Carrara marble, overlie size, 2002, © Patricia Cronin, courtesy of Artists Rights Society(read: hire a lawyer tomarriage, we mustn’t
draw up) legal documents about the end of their lives, suchforget that homosexuality is illegal and punishable up toas wills, health care proxies, and powers of attorney docudeath in 27 countries. That leaves another 139 countries…
ments. These are the most depressing documents you candoing I don’t know what. This is still a major international
sign; they are only useful if one of you is ill, incapacitated, or human rights issue.
dead. So, I employed the American Neo-classical sculpture(continued on next page)form to address a federal failure of prohibiting same sex

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In what ways does Memorial To A Marriage bridge more traditional/classic art forms with contemporary and progressive
expression and representation?

and not your exclusion. I hope viewers in the LGBTQ+ community, my intended audience, feel pride, acknowledgement,feel seen, see a part of themselves, dignity, their reflection.

I thought about two types of audiences: 1) one that wasn’tinterested in or even against homosexuality, homoeroticism,and lesbian subjects and 2) the other that was interested ina lesbian authored artwork that addressed marriage equality
with lesbian subjects and bodies front and center.

How does your identity as a queer woman inform or influence
your art?

Recently, after years of observing visitors view Memorial To
A Marriage in Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, curator
Laura Bauld wrote in Art UK,“The reason that viewers stop in their tracks is, more
often than not, because their unconscious, heteronormative bias has been momentarily disrupted. In a sculptureof such inherent classical form, they expect to see a man
and woman lying together. Instead, they are confronted
with something quite different from their expectations.
I have seen this reaction again and again while taking
visitors around the halls of Kelvingrove or even just people-watching. For this sculpture was made to provoke areaction. It was created to challenge and confront heteronormativity, bias, and LGBTQ+ discrimination. Every
double take proves the power of this sculpture.”
My aesthetic strategy is to insert my contemporary content
into time honored historical images and forms and breathe
new life into them. When you lure the audience into a false
sense of security with something familiar, they are morerelaxed, more ready to receive new information, the politicalcontent slowly reveals itself when the viewer’s consciousness
lets it in. I also think it’s my best shot at changing hearts andminds!
What has been the most surprising or unexpected part of thefeedback you’ve received from the piece?
Memorial To A Marriage is the third most visited plot in theCemetery. First is Duke Ellington, second is Miles Davis andthen us. We’re obviously not famous jazz musicians and we’restill alive! Woodlawn Cemetery does all different kinds of Historic Walking and Trolley Tours: the Art + Architecture Tour,
the Beautiful Women of Woodlawns tour, the Jazz Tour, theVictorian Tour, the Veterans Tour, and we’re on every single
one.

I don’t really identify as queer; I identify as lesbian. I think theword queer is nice big umbrella or tent we can all be in. But asan identity, the word “queer” ignores and erases the material
differences between men and women. White men still make aminimum of 25% more money than white women, so a whitelesbian couple is going to make 50% less than a white gay male
household. It’s even worse for our black and brown sisters. A
woman’s sexuality is so ridiculed in American culture and thenlesbians are so marginalized in the LGBTQ+ community, sothat’s just another reason why I had to create a dignified protest
statue in response.
From where do you draw your inspiration?
Art History inspires me every day and injustice propels me tospeak up as loudly and fiercely as I can using all my conceptual
art making and eye hand coordination artistic skills.
How does Memorial To A Marriage fit into your larger body ofwork?
For over three decades I’ve forged a feminist queer (yeah, Iknow I said I don’t identify as queer—but this is for the largerumbrella audience!) artistic practice that aimed to put female representation in the public sphere as the central focus.
Whether it was my personal wild erotic beginnings (EarlyErotic Polaroids and Watercolors) or sublimated female desire(Pony Tales and Tack Room) to my desire for civic and legal
inclusion (Memorial To A Marriage) to resurrecting the forgotten first woman sculptor (Harriet Hosmer, Lost & Found, A
Catalogue Raisonné) to the international rights of women andgirls (Shrine For Girls) to a public female authority (Aphrodite
Reimagined). My life-long commitment to female presence,authority, and healing is steadfast. They are my core social justice and human rights issues, and I manifest them in my work.
Where can our readers view Memorial To A Marriage?
Online: https://patriciacronin.net/memorial.html
In Person:

What do you hope viewers, specifically viewers in the LGBTQ+
community, take away from the piece?

1.The Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, NY, Cronin/Kassburial plot

We all want to see our reflection writ large in the culture. Whathappens when a) your reflection is so distorted you don’t recognize it or b) it’s missing? We’re so used to seeing heteronormativity everywhere. It is very powerful when you finally see
something that reflects some of your reality, your humanity,

2. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Scotland,
Balcony Gallery Find this article at: https://www.lesbiansaremiracles.com/patricia-cronin