Melina Mara

Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with Melina Mara, a photojournalist for the Washington Post and an acclaimed photographic artist. Her exhibit, “Changing the Face of Power: Women in the U.S. Senate,” was first exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution’s Arts and Industries Building in 2003 and has since been displayed at several other venues, most recently the Women’s Rights National Historical Park.
See all of the photographs in the exhibit here.

Mara realized the opportunity to document these women in a new way – as serious politicians rather than celebrities. The photographs display the 14 female U.S. senators in a variety of settings, always amid a sea of men, showing that they are still few among many. Mara highlights aspects of their femininity in her photographs – gendered items like shoes (see the Maria Cantwell shoe photo) and skirts are often a focus – but there is also a central focus here on the struggles they seem to face. In her photographs, the women always seem to be ‘on the move’ or somehow more frantically busy in comparison to their more static male counterparts. They aren’t just busy with their senatorial duties, but also with their children (see the exquisite Kay Bailey Hutchinson photo with her daughter), their appearances (see the Mary Landrieu mirror photo), and trying to fit in (see the Barbara Boxer “Boxer Box” photo, or the photo of Hillary Clinton obscured by a massive wooden desk). I asked Mara the famous loaded question of whether or not she considers herself a feminist. Her refreshingly honest and almost optimistic answer is posted in full below:

“I think every woman, whether they say they are a feminist or not, is a feminist. We can’t help it. I am a small percentage in photojournalism and there are many men before me and very few women. The women who are in it now are not as trailblazing as those who came before me. Any of us trying to make it in this public sector – you have to go by the rules created by men. And we would have probably made the rules a bit differently because we are different. We all struggle with sexism and not being taken seriously and being looked at for our looks rather than what is coming out of our mouths. We are not only judged by men, but also other women. We are still concerned with what Hillary’s hair looks like. We are all feminists even if we are stay at home moms and with the kids – you are then a feminist because you are doing what you want to do. We have that freedom. If we want to do something else we can. Or if we don’t want to have kids, we can. We don’t want to slot ourselves – I think we have created that place for ourselves. I think most women politicians will say that they’re feminist because they believe in the choices – they believe in women having the choice. No one else makes the rules for you. I just hope that doesn’t go backwards ever.”

I call Mara’s answer honest because I think it is hard – as my blog attempts to point out – for women to admit that they are feminists today. It is such a loaded term in our society and it is often easier to say things like “I’m not a feminist, but…” I think being a feminist artist is even more of a troubled idea because it is also 'dripping with qualifiers'; you can be a feminist photographer or a radical feminist video artist, etc. I think artists often play dumb to feminist intent to avoid losing audience.

I referred to Mara as optimistic only because as much as I want to believe that all women are feminists, I fear that too many are still scared of what that term implies. But, perhaps Mara is correct in saying that all women are feminists, whether or not they are willing to admit it. I think the most important thing Mara touches upon is that women need to stop judging one another; unification is not the point when we all believe the same thing or aspire to the same goals, it is, rather, the moment when we all agree to allow each other to make our own choices and support one another’s decisions.

Now that is optimistic.