From Primitivism to Contemporary Mythology: Some Strategies by American Feminist Art to Remember and Reinvent the Past

!e chapter examines the myth of matriarchal prehistory, which has been em- braced by second-wave feminist art practice as a means of preserving collective memory. !e hypothesis that women once held dominant positions in society through matriarchy remains a subject of intense debate. Nevertheless, this con- cept has served as a conduit for remembering women’s past, which has been distorted by centuries of patriarchy. I situate this phenomenon within the frame- work of what I call “feminist primitivism,” a term inspired by the work of Lucy Lippard. !is term captures the influence of Goddess imagery on feminist artists who deploy it to evoke female heritage or to forge new connections with their ancestral homelands, thereby empowering themselves. To examine the viability of this essentialist myth, I will examine two case studies of feminist art from the 1970s: Judy Chicago’s monumental installation !e Dinner Party and Ana Mendieta’s series of Siluetas. !ese works aim to illustrate the subversive and political potential of reconstructing memory through mythical imagery. Acting as historians and paleontologists, these feminist artists sought to visualize the erased ‘herstory’ in the collective consciousness. By looking for models of female experience in prehistory and its mythology, which had been influenced but not entirely dominated by patriarchal scholarship, they attempted to rewrite history. !rough a critical analysis of these efforts to rede%ne history, this study aims to illuminate feminist strategies for remembering and reimagining the past, while embracing its aesthetic and political dimensions.