Resurrecting Matilda is a collaborative project by Los Angeles artists Mary Anna Pomonis and Allison Stewart. Inspired by the stories left out of state adopted textbook curriculum. The Resurrecting Matilda series focuses on the historical erasure of women. The phenomenon was named for the women’s-rights activist Matilda Joslyn Gage, “The Matilda Effect” and refers to the erasure of female scientists who have been left out of textbooks and their accomplishments accredited to their male peers. The photographs explore the timeline of female historical erasures from the Sumerian poet Enheduanna, the world’s first recorded author, to to Laskarina Bouboulina, the first female Navy admiral in history.
The female artist participants were asked to identify a heroine they could embody in a portrait re-enactment photo. A special focus was placed on women the artists felt were left out of the historical metanarrative. The artists collaborated to create the costumes and poses exhibited in the series. The artists thus far have chosen widely from a diversity of cultures.
Carole Caroompas as Admiral Laskarina Boubolina, (1770-1825) naval commander and heroine of the Greek War of Independence. Laskarina was the first female Navy admiral in history, her ship the Agammemnon, was the largest rebel warship in the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire.