About
Colorized photo of New York City Suffragist Parade, May 1912. Source: Library of Congress/Time
In 2019, more than one hundred women photographers across the United States were invited to participate in a collaborative project, A Yellow Rose Project. Each artist was asked to create work in response to the ratification of the 19th Amendment, an event that expanded but did not guarantee voting rights for women. From its inception, the project sought to create a platform for contemporary image-makers to reflect on this history, to examine its complexities, and to build a bridge between past, present, and future.
Officers of Women’s League, Newport, RI, 1899. Source: Library of Congress
In August 2020, the United States marked the centennial of the 19th Amendment. One hundred years earlier, women wearing yellow roses stood shoulder to shoulder in Tennessee, awaiting the decisive vote that would determine whether they would gain a voice in government. The yellow rose became a symbol of support for suffrage, an outward expression of a long and arduous fight for representation. That fight spanned decades and came at immense cost. Women endured oppression, violence, imprisonment, and hunger strikes in pursuit of political recognition.
Yet this milestone was incomplete. While the amendment marked a significant achievement, it did not secure voting access for all women. Many women of color continued to face systemic barriers that prevented them from exercising this right for decades afterward. The history of suffrage is therefore both a story of progress and of exclusion, one that requires ongoing examination.
“what we remember, what we forget, matters.”
As historian Lisa Tetrault reminds us, “what we remember, what we forget, matters.” This project embraces that responsibility by inviting multiple perspectives that are critical and reflective. It acknowledges the importance of honoring historical milestones while also questioning the narratives that have been shaped and erased. Through image-making, participants contribute to an evolving cultural record, helping to define how these histories are understood and carried forward.
Rooted in the symbolic power of the yellow rose and inspired by the persistence of those who fought for change, A Yellow Rose Project brings together a wide range of voices and visual languages. The work reflects not only on suffrage, but also on broader themes of equity, representation, memory, and agency.
Hedwig Reicher as Columbia in front of the Treasury Building at the Woman Suffrage parade held in Washington, D.C., March 3, 1913. Source: Library of Congress
Today, the project has expanded beyond its original collaboration hosted online, into a published book and a traveling exhibition, extending its reach to new audiences and contexts. As it moves from place to place, it continues to spark dialogue and invites viewers to consider the ongoing impact of this history and the role of artists in shaping how it is told.
Co-Founders
Meg Griffiths
Meg Griffiths was born in Indiana and raised in Texas. She received Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Texas in Cultural Anthropology and English Literature and earned her Master of Fine Arts in Photography from Savannah College of Art and Design. She currently lives in Denton, Texas where she is an Assistant Professor of Photography in the Department of Visual Art at Texas Woman's University.
Meg’s photographic research currently deals with domestic, economic, historical and cultural relationships across the Southern United States and Cuba. Her work has travelled nationally as well as internationally, and is placed in collections such as Center for Creative Photography, Capitol One Collection, and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and Center for Fine Art Photography.
Her book projects, both monographs as well as collaborative projects have been acquired by various institutions around the country such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Duke University Libraries, Museum of Modern Art, University of Virginia, University of Iowa, Clemsen, Maryland Institute College of Art, Ringling College of Art, and Washington and Lee University, to name a few.
She was honored as one of PDN 30’s : New and Emerging Photographers in 2012, named one of eight Emerging Photographers at Blue Spiral Gallery in 2015, Atlanta Celebrates Photography’s Ones to Watch in 2016, was awarded the Julia Margaret Cameron for Best Fine Art Series in 2017 and awarded the 2nd Place Prize at PhotoNola in 2019.
Frances Jakubek
Frances Jakubek is a photographer, curator and advocate for photography. She is the past Director of Bruce Silverstein Gallery in New York City and past Associate Curator of the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, Massachusetts.
Recent curatorial appointments include I Surrender, Dear at Umbrella Arts Gallery, New York; Drawing the Line at Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York; Grief on NY Photo Curator, and The RefridgeCurator in Boston, Massachusetts. Her personal work focuses on self-portraiture and how the body is perceived within different contexts. Her photographs have been exhibited at The Southern Contemporary Art Gallery in Charleston, SC; Filter Space; Chicago, IL; Camera Commons in Dover, NH; and The Hess Gallery at Pine Manor College, MA.
She has been a guest writer for various publications and for artist monographs including Serrah Russell’s tears, tears. Jakubek has been a panelist for the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Photography fellowships, speaker for The Photo Brigade and juror for exhibitions throughout the US including United Photo Industry’s ‘The Fence’ and PDN’s ‘The Curator Awards’.