Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
1648–1695
Poet and Scholar who defended a woman’s right to think in a world that demanded obedience instead of intellect.
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In a colonial world that offered women two rooms - the kitchen or the convent - she chose the convent, and turned it into a library. The largest private library in the New World grew inside her cell - science beside scripture, mathematics beside music, poetry everywhere. She taught herself everything in it. She wrote plays, sonnets, philosophical treatises - and in 1691, a fearless written defense of a woman's right to study and think, addressed directly to the men telling her to stop.The Church forced her to sell her books and sign a confession in her own blood. They silenced her. They could not unwrite her. She is now recognized as the first feminist voice of the Americas. A woman, alone in a convent cell in 17th-century Mexico, changed the intellectual history of the world.
The Artist
Amy Kerr is an artist who creates whimsical hats and sculptures using origami and kirigami techniques. She draws inspiration from nature, folklore, and pop culture. Kerr uses a variety of papers, including handmade sheets made from silk remnants, recycled coffee sacks, recycled magazines, and grocery bags. She believes that origami symbolizes life's potential: from a single sheet, folds & creases can reveal limitless potential. Her art aims to inspire others to appreciate the absurd and embrace their own creative spirit.
