Angela Ellsworth and Raphaelle Goethals are powerhouse women artists working in Santa Fe, making a big mark on the national art world in very different ways. Angela Ellsworth is an iconic figure in feminist and LGBTQ+ art circles. It is widely known that her ancestor was Lorenzo Snow, a polygamist who married a 16-year-old girl while he was in his 50s. Ellsworth has dedicated her art practice to healing that legacy, often referencing the pain of women in her heritage who were silenced and oppressed. Ellsworth is well known for her “seer bonnets,” modeled after those her female ancestors wore. While beautiful on the outside, appearing adorned with pearls, the bonnets are instruments of torture on the inside. Ellsworth uses pearlized corsage pins as her prima materia, with their needle-like prongs cutting into the flesh of the female wearer.
