#lenae day

[dare-g]

Birds Without Feathers (2018)

[whocaresaboutactresses]

The Prescott Sisters: Lenae Day’s Dream of  an All-Woman Hollywood Dynasty

As we’re about to find out yet again on the national stage, now that Hillary Clinton has announced her candidacy, Western history has a hard time wrapping its head around the idea of a woman in power. Even the female pharaoh, Hatshepsut, has been disguised as a man in the many depictions that document her reign. Drawing from real Hollywood stories and exploring the cultural obsession with celebrity personas, artist, Lenae Day has made it part of her oeuvre to imagine and enact the legacy of an all-female power-family: The Prescotts.

To support this historical illusion, Lenae Day has fabricated a series of photos and videos in which she plays the part of each and every Prescott woman. As part of her 2014 solo show for the Mark Moore Gallery,  she curated these images along with props and objects in order to construct a museum devoted to the fictional family.

“I wanted to reimagine Hollywood if there was a power family of women. To do that, I had to maintain the name which was difficult to do because women [typically] give up their last names.” –Lenae Day

If historical conventions show us firm ties between masculinity and power (even in the visual representation of an ancient female ruler, like Hatshepsut) then what would history say about the Prescott sisters? There’s a sense of humor that accompanies her work as she reveals the intricate web of circumstances that leads to such a family’s fame and existence. 

Take The Virgin Terri, for instance, in which Lenae Day performs every screen-role in a fictional 1989 film, “starring” Priscilla Prescott (Mother Superior) and her granddaughter Tiffany Day-Prescott (the virginal Terri). The film tells the story of a young nun who is called upon to work as a prostitute in order to save her convent from financial ruin (thus acting as a modern day Mary Magdalen of sorts). The story reads as something between Rocky and The Terminator, unfolding a specifically female narrative about an underdog who goes against all odds to use her body for institutional gain. The juxtaposition is funny as it draws attention to the fem alternatives to this brand of story-telling. It seems outlandish to equate a nun with a working-class paisan from Philly, let alone an army of time-traveling nuclear holocaust survivors... but vowing into the convent means dedicating yourself to a life of poverty, chastity and obedience; if that isn’t a portrait of vulnerability and strong-will, what is?

Contributed by WhoCaresAboutActresses design/research intern Molly Murphy. 

[feministlibraryonwheels]

F.L.O.W. ribbon cutting ceremony with Aunt Flo

September 13th, 2014

(photo by Randy Perry)

[feministlibraryonwheels]

Aunt Flo cuts the ribbon on our full-of-books F.L.O.W. mobile at the Blessing of the Bikes on September 13th, 2014.

Photo by Randy Perry.

[feministlibraryonwheels]

A Visit from Aunt Flo

Don't miss it!

At the F.L.O.W. Fundraiser + Book Drive, Aunt Flo - the bike's namesake and chief benefactress will ride in sidesaddle on her friend's Peugot bike in a fancy dress. She will get up and give a brief monologue after which she will re-mount the bicycle and ride off into the sunset on Sunset Blvd. 

This will be a beautiful addition to the evening and we are deeply honored.

[antiquatedfuture]

Antiquated Future: Now with more magazines. 

[lenaeday]

"Hot Tomatoes" - 1928. Prescott Pictures. Starring Priscilla Prescott, Bernadette Carruthers and Guido Orlando. Priscilla Prescott's fabulous turn as flapper Violette Chenard in 1928's "Hot Tomatoes." One of my very favorite films! Here she can be seen with her real-life rival Bernadette Carruthers and future husband (though 30 years later), Guido Orlando. Priscilla Prescott, Bernadette Carruthers and Guido Orlando played by Lenae Day Directed by my good friend Matt Hewitt of Turkey Buzzard productions.

[skylightbooks]

Tonight! 7:30 pm! Performances! Girls, girls, girls!