Thalassa Raasch
The one about the girl who kept her calm but studied for the earthquake.
The one about the suffragette holding her ground.
The one about the wolf girl who grows up to be a wolf woman.
The one about the delicate flower resisting insurmountable odds.
The one about the yellow rose.
In dialogue with artist Kiki Smith’s “Wolf Girl” (1999) and artist Nyeema Morgan’s project “THE FLOWER” (2020), these black and white photographs live in the tangled, contradictory undergrowth of American legends about women, both historical and contemporary.
Woman’s great power and potential has long attracted both awe and fear. Women’s right to vote is no different. The 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment is cause for celebration, especially now that most women have the ability to vote (not just affluent cis white women). Still, the reductionist, neutralizing treatment of women persists: the one about the outspoken congresswoman called a “fucking bitch” by her colleague. Women are cast into types, into stories, into rumors.
But, here, the one about the yellow rose. A century gone by and this bright flower, this bright collaboration, resists the conflicting sexual, cultural, and political pressures that seek to categorize, identify, and oppress women. Here, the yellow rose, in all her complexity.
Thalassa Raasch is a French-American artist, educator, and beekeeper based in Portland, Maine. Her practice explores perceptual boundaries, translation and loss. Her research has included blind photography, traditional gravedigging and closed-eye hallucinations. Her work has been exhibited and published nationally as well as internationally. Raasch holds a BA in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard University (2010) and a Master’s in Photography from RISD (2016). She is currently Faculty Fellow in Art at Colby College and Critic at the Rhode Island School of Design.
instagram: @thalassaraasch
