Jenny Holzman, an artist well-known for her powerful text-based works, was commissioned to produce an installation celebrating 125 years of women at the University of Pennsylviania in November, 2001. The work, completed in 2003, spans the entirety of Woodland Walk between 34th and 33rd St, consisting of a series of granite chairs with quotes engraved, street lamps, and etchings that line the curb of the path. The texts were chosen from Penn’s archives and documented the unembellished experiences of women at Penn.
In searching for articles documenting the installation, I was unable to find reports from 2003, but, rather interestingly, an article by Penn Today and another by 34th Street, both written in 2018. I’m not certain why 2018 in particular, but here are the two articles for your reference.
https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/walk-through-history
https://www.34st.com/article/2018/10/art-women-at-penn-125-year-jenny-holzer-hill-square
What strikes me, examining this piece today, though, is its poorly maintained state. At night, some of the lamps illuminating the stone benches are out, leaving bits of history in the dark, and another one, light the first bench of the walk, hanging precariously on the electric wiring, casting a crooked light over the print. Aside from the fact that better care and maintainence of the work should have occured, perhaps the state of the work symbolizes to an extent the current society. While historic social injustices are becoming illuminated and improvements have occured, there is still substantial work left to achieving a fair and united society.
