First Friday Opening for Viola Bordon: Muliebrity

Since the American Revolution, the Roman goddess Libertas has personified the nation’s ideals, embodying evolving definitions of freedom and belonging. The 1886 dedication of the Statue of Liberty, however, unfolded amid national conflict over the boundaries of liberty, including the end of Reconstruction, debates over immigration, and the rise of women’s suffrage. Drawing on archival research at the American Historical Society, textile artist Viola Bordon examines “Lady Liberty” as a fragmented American icon. Her triptych Muliebrity, composed through appliqué and found textiles, invokes a distinctly feminine power grounded in endurance and embodied knowledge, prompting us to consider how figures of womanhood have been repeatedly mobilized to serve patriarchal institutions.

Viola Bordon is a Philadelphia-based sculptor and fiber artist whose work explores themes of power, boundary, control, the body, labor, faith, religion, and isolation. She holds an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania and a BFA from Washington University in St. Louis. Bordon has presented her work in exhibitions and site-based installations throughout the United States, South Asia, and Australia.