Quiet Piggy: We Cannot Be Silenced

Are We Rooted In Indecency?

So. I decided to do a thing. Completely out of my comfort zone. Way out of it. Looking back, I can’t believe I did...first, that I finished it at 3 am the morning Lady Liberty was being photographed by Margaret, and because I have never thought of entering something I had created into an exhibition.

I started needle felting The Statue of Liberty during 2025 at the same time I started following Women Made Gallery in Chicago, IL on Facebook after seeing something that caught my attention on my feed.

In November, there was a call for artists for an upcoming virtual exhibition. The deadline was the end of January.

The title was Quiet Piggy: We Cannot Be Silenced. Juried by Julie Carpenter.

This was the description posted:

“Language has long been wielded as a weapon — misogynistic terms, often used by men, become instruments of control and erasure, with words used to diminish, demean, and silence women. Quiet Piggy: We Cannot Be Silenced is about the enduring power of art to confront disparaging language and reclaim agency. The exhibition confronts the language of degradation head-on. The title Quiet Piggy is deliberately provocative: a derogatory term crudely tethered to negative connotations about the female body, horrifyingly used to shame, silence, and marginalize. By reframing and challenging this insult, the exhibition subverts the term into a narrative of resistance.

Here, the term becomes a rally cry for resilience. Voices are not hushed but amplified. To remain silent in the face of such language is complicity; to speak and to defend is defiance. This exhibition insists that women’s voices, bodies, and truths cannot be reduced, censored, or erased.”

I kept going back to the site. Reading the call for entries resonated with me. I felt like what I was felting was fitting for the exhibit.

I chose to felt the Statue of Liberty because of what I was witnessing happening to human rights, the 1st Amendment, how women are being treated in important rooms and everyday life. How disrespect is on the rise with permission given in the highest office held. Marginalized and people without voices people being targeted. I decided I had something artistically to say.

My husband and I have travelled to see many places in history. Some horrible. Where evil walked. Harming and murdering so many innocent people. We always talk about what would we do if we lived in those times. Would we be making a difference in ways we could? Would we sit on the sidelines, complicit, turning a blind eye. I do not believe history will look kindly on America during this time we are living in...at all. I want my time on earth to reflect what I passionately believe: ALL people deserve equal, unwavering rights. Not challenged or threatened by any change in government, with the simple, harmful stroke of a pen. I do not want to go back in history. We should be moving forward. Acknowledging and trying to heal and help those harmed systemically in the past. People should have their voices heard.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned. It repeat it” philosopher George Santayana.

The Statue of Liberty is not just a symbol of welcome to the people immigrating here. She stands for all. Equality, Justice, Liberty. Freedom.

The word piggy has been used to try to belittle women. As I was felting Lady Liberty, I pictured her with a mask which ended up becoming a snout. When a pig digs for food in the dirt, it's called rooting. We are supposed to be something she represents, all that we should be, but what are we really?

I didn’t feel the need to say a lot in my artist's statement. I wanted my work to speak for itself. We know what is being said and accepted. Reported but not confronted in the news. Sadly, I am no longer surprised when men stay silent when a woman is being demeaned or disrespected. It is still, however, shocking to me that the women in the room are also silent.

I entered my piece for the series, which was selected for the virtual exhibit. Featured online from February 18th until March 31st Www.WomanMadeGallery.com

Come along with me. –Sylvia

Are We Rooted In Indecency?

Margaret Wolf Photography  on the day I submitted my art piece for the exhibition. Thank you, Margaret.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/745371_f0bb6e288b144a0d94e3c323c2491903/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

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