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Sisters of Survival records
2017.M.47
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Table of contents
Title: Sisters of Survival records
Date (inclusive): 1954-2015,
undated
Number: 2017.M.47
Creator/Collector:
Sisters of
Survival
Physical Description:
44.65 Linear Feet
(56 boxes; 3 boxed-rolls; 2 flatfiles. Computer media: 9.01 GB
[551 files])
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: Sisters of Survival (S.O.S.) was an anti-nuclear performance group
founded in 1981 by Cheri Gaulke, Jerri Allyn, Nancy Angelo, Anne Gauldin, and Sue Maberry.
The archive consists primarily of project files documenting performances, exhibitions, and
publications from Sisters of Survival's main period of activity from 1982 to 1985 and some
later projects, and includes photographic materials, planning documents, ephemera, digital
files, audiovisual materials, and exhibition materials. The archive also contains press
clippings and promotional images, administrative files, and a small amount of materials by
other anti-nuclear artists and activists.
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Language: Collection material is in
English.
Sisters of Survival was an anti-nuclear performance group founded in 1981 by Cheri Gaulke,
Jerri Allyn, Nancy Angelo, Anne Gauldin, and Sue Maberry. The group was one of the last
collectives to emerge from the Woman's Building, a non-profit arts and education center
which operated in Los Angeles between 1973 and 1991. Sisters of Survival members were also
members of other performance art groups founded at the Woman's Building: Allyn and Gauldin
were members of The Waitresses, while Gaulke and Angelo were members of Feminist Art
Workers. To symbolize their sisterhood, Sisters of Survival wore colorful adaptations of
religious habits during their performances. They also incorporated semaphore flags as
accessories in a nod to their acronym, S.O.S. During their main period of activity from 1981
to 1985, Angelo, Gauldin, Gaulke, and Maberry were based in the Los Angeles area while Allyn
coordinated activities in New York. Angelo left the group in 1982.
Sisters of Survival's activities included staging performances and exhibitions across the
United States and Europe, collecting artwork from other anti-nuclear artists, and producing
artists' books and other products such as postcards and buttons. Inspired by anti-nuclear
demonstrations in Europe, they organized a three-part project,
End of
the Rainbow
(1982-1983). In part one, they gathered artwork and produced
performances and media events in Los Angeles and New York. One of these performances was a
collaboration with Marguerite Elliot titled
Shovel Defense
(May 1982), in which the performers staged a dance of death in a mock graveyard made of
shovels at government buildings and college campuses across Los Angeles in response to a
claim by U.S. Undersecretary of Defense T.K. Jones that nuclear war was survivable if
citizens had enough shovels to dig holes to hide themselves in. Another notable performance
was
Twist for Life Habit (June 1982), staged by Allyn with
Political Art Documentation and Distribution (PAD/D), as part of the march in support of the
United Nations Second Special Session on Disarmament in New York City. Sisters of Survival
were also instrumental in organizing Target L.A. (August 1982) with L.A. Artists for
Survival and led
Fold a Crane for Peace workshops at that
event and elsewhere.
In the second part of
End of the Rainbow, they traveled
across England, the Netherlands, Germany, and Malta with their performance,
Public Action (May 1983), in which Sisters of Survival conveyed
S.O.S. notices for the planet using semaphore flags, displayed other flags with messages
collected from artists in North America, and dialogued with local activists. Their
performance locations included nuclear missile sites, former military bases, war memorials,
and city centers. Finally, part three of
End of the Rainbow
culminated in a traveling exhibition of work collected from over 300 artists across North
America and Europe, as well as the documentation of S.O.S. activities. Other works by
Sisters of Survival include
At Home in the Nuclear Age?
(1983-1985); the artists' book,
Memento Mori (1984); and an
installation for the
Secular Attitudes exhibition at the Los
Angeles Institute for Contemporary Art (LAICA) (1985), which also involved the display of a
billboard on Wilshire Boulevard. More recent retrospective exhibitions include
Making It Together: Women's Collaborative Art + Community (Bronx
Museum of the Arts, 2008) and
Doin' It in Public: Feminism and Art at
the Woman's Building
(Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design,
2011-12).
Sources consulted:
Allyn, Jerri, Anne Gauldin, Cheri Gaulke, and Sue Maberry.
Sisters
of Survival
. Los Angeles: Otis College of Art and Design, 2011.
Tain, John. Acquisition approval form for "Sisters of Survival (active 1981-1985) Archive,
1981-85." May 16, 2016.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Sisters of Survival records, 1954-2015, undated, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles,
Accession no. 2017.M.47.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2017m47
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Cheri Gaulke, Sisters of Survival. Acquired in 2017.
Rachel Poutasse processed the bulk of the collection in 2020 and wrote the finding aid
under the supervision of Sarah Mackenzie Wade and Kit Messick. Emmabeth Nanol completed the
physical processing of the collection in 2021. Digital materials were processed by Laura
Schroffel in 2019. Digital files require further processing before access copies can be made
available. This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library
Services, ST-03-17-0007-17.
Woman's Building records, 1960-2016, undated, Getty Research Institute, Accession no.
2017.M.43.
The Waitresses records, 1971-2015, undated, Getty Research Institute, Accession no.
2017.M.45.
L.A. Artists for Survival records relating to Target L.A., 1981-1984, Getty Research
Institute, Accession no. 2017.M.46.
Feminist Art Workers records, 1976-2013, undated, Getty Research Institute, Accession no.
2017.M.48.
Mother Art records, 1973-2017, undated, Getty Research Institute, Accession no.
2017.M.60.
Publications transferred:
Allyn, Jerri, Anne Gauldin, Cheri Gaulke, and Sue Maberry.
Sisters
of Survival
. Los Angeles: Otis College of Art and Design, 2011.
De Angelis, Jacqueline and Aleida Rodriguez.
Rara Avis. Los
Angeles, 1978.
Schröder, Johannes Lothar.
Identität, Überschreitung, Verwandlung :
Happenings, Aktionen Und Performances Von Bildenden Künstlern
. Germany, 1990.
Warburg, Jennifer.
You Can't Hug with Nuclear Arms: Photos From June
12th and Related Disarmament Demonstrations
. New York, 1982.
Scope and Content of Collection
The archive consists primarily of project files documenting Sisters of Survival
performances, exhibitions, and publications from the group's main period of activity from
1982 to 1985, as well as some materials related to later projects. Most project files
include photographic materials such as color slides and color or black-and-white negatives
and prints, planning documents, and fliers and other ephemera. Some project files also
contain audiovisual materials, born digital materials, and items used in exhibitions.
In addition to project files, the archive includes press clippings, administrative files,
correspondence, and a small number of documents related to projects by group members that
predate the formation of Sisters of Survival. Finally, the archive contains color slides,
fliers, and publications produced by other anti-nuclear artists and activists, especially
for Target: L.A.
The bulk of the collection was assembled by Cheri Gaulke, but it also contains files
contributed by Jerri Allyn and Anne Gauldin.
The archive is arranged in four series:
Series I. Project files, 1954-2015,
undated;
Series II. Press files, 1982-1990,
undated;
Series III. Administrative files,
1978-1985, undated;
Series IV. Anti-nuclear art and
activism by other groups, 1982-1983, undated.
Woman's Building (Los Angeles,
Calif.)
Art, American -- California -- 20th century
Art and nuclear warfare
Artists -- Political activity -- Los Angeles -- California -- 20th
century
Nonprofit organizations -- California -- Los Angeles
Feminism in art -- United States -- 20th century
Nuclear disarmament--Citizen participation
Performance art
Women and peace
Women artists -- Archives
Women artists -- California -- Los Angeles
Women artists -- United States -- 20th century
Performance art -- 20th century
Audiocassettes
Black-and-white negatives -- 20th century
Black-and-white prints (photographs) -- 20th century
Born digital
Chromogenic color prints -- 20th century
Color slides -- 20th century
DVDs
Open reel audiotapes
Photographs, Original
Posters
Printed ephemera
Sound recordings
Video recordings
Sisters of
Survival
Gaulke,
Cheri
Allyn, Jerri,
1952-
Gauldin, Anne
Martinez, Daniel J.