# Ann Fessler > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Ann_Fessler > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Ann_Fessler.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Fessler > Source revision: 1290510882 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Ann Fessler** is an author, [filmmaker](/source/Filmmaking), [video-installation](/source/Video_installation) artist, and a professor emerita at the [Rhode Island School of Design](/source/Rhode_Island_School_of_Design).[1] Her work reconciles the division between lived history and recorded history from a [feminist](/source/Feminism) perspective. She is especially known for her work dealing with [adoption](/source/Adoption) before legalized [abortion](/source/Abortion) and the experiences of women who surrendered children in the 1950s and 60s; particularly women who were seen as unfit mothers due to being a single parent.[2] ## Education Fessler graduated with an MFA from the School of Art's Photography division of the [University of Arizona](/source/University_of_Arizona), where she received the Harold Jones Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007.[3] ## Work Ann Fessler's work utilizes the stories of women and focuses on how myths, stereotypes, and mass media images, can impact women's lives and their intimate relationships.[4] Fessler's first installation project was her 1984 installation created for the Washington Project of the Arts on the subject of rape and violence against women.[5] The installation appropriated images of French painter [Nicolas Poussin](/source/Nicolas_Poussin)'s famous 17th-century painting, [*The Rape of the Sabine Women*](/source/The_Rape_of_the_Sabine_Women#Nicolas_Poussin), to show how art history itself has become a silent conspirator in the subjugation of women and the equation of female gender with passive victimhood.[5] Fessler was 56 years old when she first met her biological mother. Using her personal adoption story as the basis of *[The Girls Who Went Away](/source/The_Girls_Who_Went_Away)*, she tells the story of over a hundred women who surrendered children for adoption prior to legalized abortion.[6] In 2012 her documentary film, *[A Girl Like Her](/source/A_Girl_Like_Her_(2012_film))* was released. ## Awards Fessler is the recipient of visual art and film grants from the [National Endowment for the Arts](/source/National_Endowment_for_the_Arts), the LEF Foundation, the Rhode Island Foundation, Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, Art Matters, N]; Maryland State Arts Council and the Rhode Island State Arts Council.[7] ## Collections Multiple bodies of her work have been widely exhibited in galleries, museums, and film festivals since the 1980s. Her work is included in the [Whitney Museum of American Art](/source/Whitney_Museum_of_American_Art), NY; [Museum of Modern Art](/source/Museum_of_Modern_Art), NY; the [Center for Creative Photography](/source/Center_for_Creative_Photography), Tucson; the [Museum of Fine Arts, Houston](/source/Museum_of_Fine_Arts,_Houston); and the [Rhode Island School of Design Museum](/source/Rhode_Island_School_of_Design_Museum).[1] ## Bibliography - Fessler, Ann (2006). *The girls who went away: the hidden history of women who surrendered children for adoption in the decades before Roe v. Wade*. New York: Penguin Press. ISBN 1594200947. [OCLC 62593825](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/62593825) ## References 1. ["Ann Fessler - Professor Emeritus"](http://www.risd.edu/academics/photography/faculty/Ann-Fessler/). *[Rhode Island School of Design](/source/Rhode_Island_School_of_Design)*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20231128155416/http://www.risd.edu/academics/photography/faculty/Ann-Fessler/) 28 November 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 13 May 2024. 1. ["Ann Fessler - The Girls Who Went Away"](http://www.soapboxinc.com/speakers/ann-fessler/). *[Soapbox, Inc.](/source/Jennifer_Baumgardner#Soapbox%2C_Inc._Speakers_Who_Speak_Out)*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20240220222520/http://www.soapboxinc.com/speakers/ann-fessler/) 20 February 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 13 May 2024. 1. Warren, Allison (15 October 2007). ["UA alumna returns to receive award"](https://wildcat.arizona.edu/114127/uncategorized/ua-alumna-returns-to-receive-award/). *[The Daily Wildcat](/source/Arizona_Daily_Wildcat)*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20240514022209/https://wildcat.arizona.edu/114127/uncategorized/ua-alumna-returns-to-receive-award/) 14 May 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 August 2017. 1. ["Bio – Ann Fessler"](https://agirllikeher.com/about-the-filmmaker/). *A Girl Like Her*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20230327023550/https://agirllikeher.com/about-the-filmmaker/) 27 March 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 13 May 2024. 1. McNatt, Glenn (15 December 1996). "The powerful influence of feminism on art today". *[The Baltimore Sun](/source/The_Baltimore_Sun)*. pp. 1E. 1. Harrison, Kathryn (11 June 2006). ["In Trouble"](https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/books/review/11harrison.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. [ISSN 0362-4331](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20210309131206/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/books/review/11harrison.html) 9 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 August 2017. 1. ["Authors: Ann Fessler"](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/228034/ann-fessler). *[Penguin Random House](/source/Penguin_Random_House)*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20230510132126/https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/228034/ann-fessler/) 10 May 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 7 March 2018. ## External links - [Ann Fessler](http://www.annfessler.com/), artist website --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ann Fessler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Fessler) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Fessler?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.