WASHINGTON, DC.- The National Women’s History Museum, an innovative museum dedicated to uncovering, interpreting, and celebrating women’s diverse contributions to society, and artist and activist Tiffany Shlain are pleased to announce DENDROFEMONOLOGY: A Feminist History Tree Ring, will be installed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. from November 1 – 4, 2023. DENDROFEMONOLOGY is a reclaimed deodar cedar wood sculpture that offers a timeline of humanity through an intersectional feminist lens, mapped against the concept of trees bearing witness to humanity and history as a new kind of monument for the 21st century. The installation aims to inspire, engage, and galvanize people ahead of the 2023 elections.

With more than 93,000 races on the ballot this November that could affect women’s rights, trans rights, and reproductive freedom, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Women Connect4Good, Feminist Majority Foundation, Vital Voices, She The People, and ERA Coalition are participating in the DENDROFEMONOLOGY activation to provide important resources such as regional guides and materials to help educate, register, and mobilize voters for the 2023 election, as well as kick off the year-long countdown to the 2024 presidential election. Programming with participating organizations will be live-streamed from the National Mall to amplify their missions.

DENDROFEMONOLOGY features text burned onto the tree ring that highlight important moments throughout history. The timeline starts 50,000 years ago to showcase how society has evolved from worshiping goddesses to women securing the right to vote, all the way to the overturning of Roe V. Wade in 2022, despite 67 other countries having legalized abortion, including several in the last year. The sculpture addresses an important narrative about how far we’ve come as a feminist culture, and how far we still have to go.

“I have always been fascinated by the tree ring timelines at the entrance of Muir Woods or any National Park. They illuminate how the trees are a witness to human history,” said Tiffany Shlain. “However, I also felt like those timelines tell a colonialist and patriarchal story. DENDROFEMONOLOGY uses this concept of dendrochronology (tree ring dating) to imagine what alternate histories could be told. I conceived this work to be a moveable monument and love that it will be on the National Mall in direct response to some of our country's most iconic symbols.”

DENDROFEMONOLOGY: A Feminist History Tree Ring debuted as part of Tiffany Shlain's Human Nature exhibition in The San Francisco Ferry Building's Shack15 in November 2022. The Human Nature exhibition was presented by the National Women’s History Museum and Women Connect4Good and will travel to other cities in 2024.

The art activation and event is produced by Let it Ripple, and presented by National Women’s History Museum and Women Connect4Good.

Tiffany Shlain is an artist, activist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, national bestselling author, and the founder of the Webby Awards. Working across film, art, and performance, Shlain's work explores the intersection of feminism, philosophy, technology, neuroscience, and nature. The Museum of Modern Art in New York premiered her one-woman spoken cinema show, Dear Human. Her recent art exhibition, Human Nature, was presented by the National Women’s History Museum and the sculpture from that show DENDROFEMONOLOGY, a feminist history tree ring, is set to be displayed on the National Mall in D.C. this November. Her awards and distinctions include selection by the Albert Einstein Foundation for their Genius100 list, the Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Intellectual Activity, and inclusion on NPR’s list of best commencement speeches. Shlain has had multiple premieres at the Sundance Film Festival, has received over 60 awards, and her work has been shown at U.S. Embassies to represent America. Her book, 24/6: Giving up Screens One Day a Week to Get More Time, Creativity, and Connection, received the Marshall McLuhan Outstanding Book Award. Shlain will have an exhibition in the Getty Museum’s upcoming Pacific Standard Time: Art & Science Collide at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles in 2024. Shlain is represented by the Nancy Hoffman Gallery in New York. Visit tiffanyshlain.com and follow @tiffanyshlain

Let it Ripple, the producer of this activation, is a nonpartisan 501(c)3 organization known for its award-winning films and original series, global art activations, and live and virtual experiences. Founded by feminist artist and Webby Award founder Tiffany Shlain, and transgender filmmaker and transgender activist Sawyer Steele, Let it Ripple’s mission is to inspire audiences to think about what it means to be an engaged human in today’s evolving world. Their art projects and films have premiered at MoMA and Sundance Film Festival, and have been selected by the US State Department to represent the US at embassies around the world.

Founded in 1996, the National Women’s History Museum (NWHM) is an innovative museum dedicated to uncovering, interpreting, and celebrating women’s diverse contributions to society. A renowned leader in women’s history education, the Museum brings to life the countless untold stories of women throughout history, and serves as a space for all to inspire, experience, collaborate, and amplify women’s impact—past, present, and future. We strive to fundamentally change the way women and girls see their potential and power.

NWHM fills in major omissions of women in history books and K-12 education, providing scholarly content and educational programming for teachers, students, and parents. We reach more than five million visitors each year through our online content and education programming and, in March 2023, mounted our first physical exhibit at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in downtown Washington, DC, We Who Believe in Freedom: Black Feminist DC. The Museum is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)3. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and visit at womenshistory.org.

National Mall in Washington, D.C.
DENDROFEMONOLOGY: A Feminist History Tree Ring
November 1st, 2023 – 4th, 2023