Abstract
In 2021, artist Michelle Browder created Mothers of Gynecology, a statue dedicated to the enslaved women who were forced to be the surgical research subjects of Dr. J. Marion Sims, known as the 'Father of Gynecology.' This statue, made of scrap metal and full of symbolism, is a statement of opposition to memorials that honor and celebrate Sims. Through this, Browder draws attention to the historical narratives that have been pushed in the American South since before the Civil War.
I argue that Mothers of Gynecology functions as a counter-monument to reclaim the silenced narratives of enslaved Black women exploited by a white, patriarchal system. The statue subverts the dominant historical narrative that celebrates Sims for his scientific achievements, challenging the people of Montgomery and the entire United States into questioning the history that has been taught. After providing a discussion of the monument and its characteristics as a counter-monument, I will analyze the sculpture's opposition to the traditional monument itself, highlighting its characteristics as a counter-monument. I then highlight Mothers of Gynecology's opposition to dominant historical narratives, particularly when discussed in conversation with statues and monuments to J. Marion Sims, and introduce the concept of rival geography. I follow that up by engaging in a comparative analysis between Mother of Gynecology and Betye Saar's Liberation of Aunt Jemima (1972) and Kara Walker's A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby, an Homage to the unpaid and overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of the New World on the Occasion of the demolition of the Domino Sugar Refining Plant (2014). Through this analysis, I highlight the ways that Mothers of Gynecology is not the first, nor the last to oppose these dominant narratives through art, but rather Browder draws upon a long lineage of visual language.