SENECA FALLS — Artist, filmmaker, and author Tiffany Shlain has brought the movable sculpture “Dendrofemonology: A Feminist History Tree Ring” to the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
The national tour began with an installation on the National Mall in Washington in 2023, and the monument has traveled nationwide since then. This year, the tour began with visits to landmark sites across the United States, beginning in Seneca Falls.
The sculpture was in town for the annual Women’s Right To Run in Seneca Falls on May 8 and is now at the Hall of Fame at 1 Canal St., chosen because Seneca Falls is the birthplace of the Women’s Rights Movement. It will be at the Hall until August, when it heads to Texas.
At a time when national discourse is polarized and women’s rights and climate justice are considered imperiled by some, Shlain’s work is said to have brought leaders together to facilitate conversation and connection.
“My work continues to look at the interdependence of women’s history, ecology and the future,” Shlain said. “In a year when so much is at stake, we will bring together art and action at historic and meaningful sites across the country, creating opportunities to amplify a non-partisan movement to insist on equal rights and protecting our planet.
“Art is a bridge and women’s rights are a bridge.”
The sculpture is a 65-inch, reclaimed deodar cedar sculpture that offers a timeline of humanity through a feminist lens, mapped against the concept of trees bearing witness to history as a new kind of monument for the 21st century that, by its very nature — being made from wood and no granite — will change and evolve.
The timeline starts 50,000 years ago, with text burned onto the tree ring documenting how society has gone from women having power in ancient civilizations to the spread of patriarchy, women securing the right to vote, and Roe v. Wade being overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022.
The latest entry on the timeline is “Today,” serving as both an invitation to take action and a reminder that what is done today will influence what’s recorded next, Shlain said.
David L. Shaw is a reporter with the Finger Lakes Times, a WXXI News partner.
