W&L’s Staniar Gallery Presents ‘A Yellow Rose Project’ The exhibit reflects on women's right to vote.

W&L News Office
September 29, 2021

Washington and Lee University’s Staniar Gallery presents “A Yellow Rose Project,” an exhibition of photographic works made by women across the United States who submitted artistic responses, reflections and reactions to the 19th Amendment, which guarantees the right of women to vote in the U.S. The exhibit will open on Oct. 4, and the works will be on display through Nov. 3, with a curator’s talk on Oct. 26 at 5:30 p.m. in Wilson Concert Hall. The event will be followed by a reception in Lykes Atrium, adjacent to the hall.

The exhibition and lecture are free and open to the public. All visitors are expected to be masked indoors in compliance with the campus’s COVID-19 guidelines.

The project was organized in 2020 to mark the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The project stems from a demonstration 100 years ago on August 18, 1920. In Tennessee, women dawning yellow roses stood side-by-side waiting for the roll call of men who would vote to decide a woman’s right to vote. The modern-day project gave the artists a focal point and platform to share contemporary viewpoints on the historic legislation. An important note is though the 19th Amendment allowed white women the right to vote, it was not until much later that all women in the U.S., regardless of race, were extended the same right.

The show considers the present and the past and demonstrates critically how far women’s rights have come throughout history. This project is organized by Meg Griffiths, assistant professor of photography at Texas Woman’s University, and Frances Jakubek, director of exhibitions and operations at Bruce Silverstein Gallery in New York City.  

The Staniar Gallery is located on the second floor of Wilson Hall in Washington and Lee University’s Lenfest Center for the Arts. For more information, please call 540-458-8861.