In celebration of the hundredth anniversary of women's suffrage in the United States, this reissue of Women of the World: A Global Collection of Art presents 174 artworks by 174 women from 174 countries, combining to present an aggregate, powerful statement about the continuity of women's struggles and accomplishments worldwide. Women of the World is an affirmation of survival of the will, of commonality that subsumes difference, of courage under fire, and of grace in adversity. In the 1990s, artist and world traveler Claudia DeMonte posed a question-What image represents "woman"? She invited women to create a work of art that expressed in their view the essential quality of woman. After three years spent locating the artists through embassies and various professional connections, she assembled the works in a historically unique exhibition that traveled internationally and was documented by this book.
DeMonte saw the project as a means to show the differences in how art is made and perceived, and it achieves that goal. But there was another, unforeseen, and joyous effect of the accumulation of images. Here, the visionary and the everyday come together to render a global image of female experience. Traditional art in ancient media gleefully joins with multimedia constructions that sing or glow. Individually superb, these works of art together are a moving expression of self from people whose voices have rarely been heard. First published in 2000, Women of the World is just as meaningful today.