Features

The SVA community is abundant with artists, thinkers, and educators who harbor unique perspectives from their experiences as women-identifying creatives. In recognition of Women's History Month, the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion organized an inventive way to provide a platform for these community members. “This collaboration was an outside-the-box idea of how to honor the contributions of women to SVA and the art world by allowing them to share some insight on process, experience, and expertise,” says DEI Director Andrew “Dru” Alvez Sr., “and nothing puts them on a bigger platform than TEDx.”

From a pool of nearly 50 proposals submitted by staff, students, faculty and alumni, Alvez and DEI coordinator Brenda Fortune selected six unique presentations exploring the intersection of gender and art from the animation industry to film criticism. On Monday, March 10, 6:00 – 8:30pm, these speakers will take the stage to share their insights on how gender influences how we live, work, and create. “The goal is for everyone at SVA to learn about the fantastic women-identifying people in our campus community and to understand how important it is to hear and learn from different perspectives,” says Alvez. Read more about each speaker and the topics they will be discussing, below.

Schantelle Alonzo (she/her)

BFA Animation student Schantelle Alonzo calls upon her personal experiences to examine the contradicting advice she’s received as a female student in animation. In her talk “The Paradox of Sustaining Female Leadership in the Animation Industry,” Alonzo will reflect on how these conditions have developed through historical precedent.

Katya Grokhovsky (she/her)

MFA Art Practice faculty member Katya Grokhovsky is a Ukrainian-born artist, educator, and founding director of The Immigrant Artist Biennial. In “Beyond Borders: Art, Gender and the Immigrant Experience,” Grokhovsky will dive into the intersections of migration, art practice, and gender to explore how displacement shapes creativity while highlighting the transformative power of art making.

Brenda Perry Herrera (she/her/ella)

In works like Mothernity, Brenda Perry Herrera (MFA 2014 Art Practice) uses a combination of mediums to spotlight women's invisible domestic labor and the societal disparities they experience. In her talk, “I Do: The Invisible Labor of Women Through Art,” Herrera will discuss probing these complexities while advocating for policy changes, pushing for the economic recognition of unpaid labor, and inspiring gender equity. 

Ishita Jain (she/her)

Faculty member Ishita Jain (MFA 2020 Illustration as Visual Essay) has done designs and illustrations for books and comics like Midnight Motorbike and Buckle Up: Abortion Stories from the Road, as well as authored and illustrated Searching for Sunshine: Finding Connections with Plants, Parks, and the People Who Love Them. In her talk, “Unladylike,” Jain explores visualizing the freedoms and constraints of experiencing the world around us through the lens of gender.

Joseph O'Malley (they/she)

Through documentary photography and narrative filmmaking, Joseph O'Malley (MFA 2024 Photography, Video, and Related Media) unravels ideas of gender, intimacy, and performance. Expanding on their practice, O'Malley argues for a more nuanced representation of gender transition in the talk “Too Late/Too Soon” and advocates for a distance from portrayals of a discrete start/end and instead engaging with the fluid, lifelong negotiation of the space between experience and expression.

Laura Valenza (she/her)

Visual Arts Press content writer and editor Laura Valenza has written about film and media for publications like The Los Angeles Review of Books and Literary Hub and is co-film editor at the Brooklyn Rail. In her talk “Rated R for Revolutionary Women in the Movies,” Valenza examines how film criticism can reveal gender bias with a special analysis of the 1999 film But I’m a Cheerleader.

TEDx SVA Women: The Intersection of Art and Gender is presented by the SVA Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion thanks to director Andrew “Dru” Alvez Sr., and Coordinator Brenda Fortune. The talks will be live-streamed on Monday, March 10, 6:00 – 8:30pm. Access the live stream link on the event page here.