Elena del Rivero: Home Address, a nationwide installation of nineteen flags convened by Dr. John A. Tyson, celebrates the Suffrage Movement in a long struggle for women’s rights, the politics of domestic labor, and all human and voting rights left unprotected by the historic legislation of 1920.

 Elena del Rivero: Home Address initially coincided with the 2020 centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment which legislated women’s suffrage across the nation (though the right to vote of women of color was limited in many places).

Issues related to suffrage continue with us today: the political enfranchisement of women and access to polls are still pressing matters. Del Rivero designed flags, which she describes as “monstrous dishtowels,” with an abstract, geometric pattern specifically for the suffrage anniversary. These banners fly or hang on the exteriors or interiors of sites of cultural interest, thereby entering into a dialogue with the history and present of American democracy.

The initiative poetically transfers often-overlooked or underestimated textiles from the kitchen into the public sphere.  With del Rivero’s flags the artist aims to spark collective conversations, woven from manifold perspectives, about civics and aesthetics.

Presented at the Hispanic Society Museum & Library in collaboration with the Consulate General of Spain and Henrique Faria/New York.