2025. white stoneware clay. part of the Matriarch series.
this is emma, named after emma goldman (1869–1940), a midwife and anarchist revolutionary who helped shape anarchist political thought as we now know it. she came to the US from present-day lithuania in 1886, and was drawn to anarchism and political struggle after the haymarket affair that same year. after a brief, failed marriage, she moved to new york city in 1889, where she met alexander berkman and johann most. with berkman she had a decades-long relationship that took many forms, and most trained her in public speaking. she gave many speeches around the country over the next 30 years, and founded the anarchist journal “mother earth” in 1906. speaking out on issues like prisons, atheism, freedom of speech, militarism, capitalism, marriage, free love, and homosexuality, she came to be labeled “red emma” by her admirers and “the most dangerous woman in america” by everyone else.
in 1919, she and berkman had their citizenship revoked and they were sent to russia. finding repression, mismanagement, and corruption instead of the workers’ paradise they expected, they ended up leaving for germany. from there, goldman spent time in several european countries and canada, supporting various causes and speaking out against others. in the late 1920s, she wrote her autobiography, “living my life.” her fame faded after her death in 1940, but it was revived in the 70s when a collection of her writing was published. it was around this time when t-shirts appeared with a quote attributed to emma: “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be in your revolution.” though there is no record of her ever saying or writing this, she did make some similar statements and i believe she would have agreed with the sentiment.
since anarchism is largely misunderstood, here’s an explanation in emma’s words: “Anarchism, then, really stands for the liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion; the liberation of the human body from the dominion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraint of government. Anarchism stands for a social order based on the free grouping of individuals for the purpose of producing real social wealth; an order that will guarantee to every human being free access to the earth and full enjoyment of the necessities of life, according to individual desires, tastes, and inclinations.”
side note that i completed emma on june 27, which i later learned was emma goldman’s birthday.