City of womenby Molly Roy
It’s a map that reflects the remarkable history of charismatic women who have shaped New York City from the beginning, such as the seventeenth-century Quaker preacher Hannah Feake Bowne, who is routinely written out of history—even the home in Flushing where she held meetings is often called the John Bowne house. Three of the four female Supreme Court justices have come from the city, and quite a bit of the history of American feminism has unfolded here, from Victoria Woodhull to Shirley Chisholm to the Guerrilla Girls. Many of the women who made valuable contributions or might have are forgotten or were never named. Many women were never allowed to be someone; many heroes of any gender live quiet lives. But some rose up; some became visible; and here they are by the hundreds. This map is their memorial and their celebration.
She is a cartographer and artist creating works that encourage people to delve into the dynamic stories of place. Recent projects include lead cartography for Rebecca Solnit and Joshua Jelly-Schapiro's Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas, editing Guerrilla Cartography's Water: An Atlas, and conducting research for an atlas on Sacramento, CA. Previous projects include map making and/or editing for Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas, Mission Possible: A Neighborhood Atlas, and Food: An Atlas. Molly is also a co-founder and former board member of Guerrilla Cartography, and was recently invited to participate in the workshop Mapping Back: Indigenous Cartographies of Extractive Conflicts.