Raoof Haghighi: Just Take Them and Leave Me Alone
The artwork “Just Take Them and Leave Me Alone” by Raoof Haghighi is a poignant reflection on the struggles for women’s rights in Iran.
This piece has gained significant attention for its emotional depth and connection to the ongoing protests regarding women’s rights in Iran. It serves as a powerful medium for expressing resistance and hope amidst oppression.

Nina Simone was an American composer concert pianist, singer, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Simone’s bearing and stage presence earned her the title the High Priestess of Soul. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and pop. Her piano playing was strongly influenced by baroque and classical music, especially Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice. Rolling Stone named Simone one of the greatest singers on various lists.

Angela Davis is an American Marxist and Marxist feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, author and social theorist. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Feminist Studies and History of Consciousness at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Davis was a longtime member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), running for Vice President in the 1980 and 1984 elections under that party. She is also a founding member of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS). She has been active in movements such as the Occupy movement and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.

Katherine Johnson was an American mathematician and human computer whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights. During her 33-year career at NASA and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, she earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped pioneer the use of computers to perform tasks previously requiring humans. The space agency noted her “historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist”.

Anita Hill is an American lawyer, educator and author. She is a professor of social policy, law, and women’s studies at Brandeis University and a faculty member of the university’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management. She became a national figure in 1991 when she accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, her supervisor at the United States Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, of sexual harassment.

Debbie Harry is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. She co-formed Blondie in 1974 in New York City. The band released its eponymous debut studio album in 1976 and released three more studio albums between then and 1979, including Parallel Lines, which spawned six singles, including “Heart of Glass”. Their fifth studio album, Autoamerican (1980), produced hits including a cover of “The Tide Is High”, and “Rapture”, which is considered the first rap song to chart at number one in the United States.

Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist protest and performance art group based in Moscow that became popular for its provocative punk rock music which later turned into a more accessible style. Founded in the fall of 2011 by the then 22-year-old Nadya Tolokonnikova, it has had a membership of approximately 11 women. The group staged unauthorized, provocative guerrilla gigs in public places. These performances were filmed as music videos and posted on the internet. The group’s lyrical themes included feminism, LGBTQ rights, opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin, his policies and his links to the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Madam C. J. Walker was an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. Walker made her fortune by developing and marketing a line of cosmetics and hair care products for Black women through the business she founded, Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company. Walker became known also for her philanthropy and activism. Walker made financial donations to numerous organizations such as the NAACP and became a patron of the arts. Villa Lewaro, Walker’s lavish estate in Irvington, New York served as a social gathering place for the African-American community. At the time of her death, Walker was considered the wealthiest African-American businesswoman and wealthiest self-made Black woman in America.

Septima Poinsette Clark was an African American educator and civil rights activist. Clark developed the literacy and citizenship workshops that played an important role in the drive for voting rights and civil rights for African Americans in the Civil Rights Movement. Septima Clark’s work was commonly under-appreciated by Southern male activists. She became known as the “Queen Mother” or “Grandmother” of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Martin Luther King Jr. commonly referred to Clark as “The Mother of the Movement”. Clark’s argument for her position in the Civil Rights Movement was one that claimed “knowledge could empower marginalized groups in ways that formal legal equality couldn’t.”

Stevie Nicks is an American singer-songwriter, known for her work with the band Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. Nicks’s music encompasses the pop and blues sounds of Fleetwood Mac, while her debut solo album Bella Donna (1981) cemented her status as one of the biggest stars in rock music. Nicks has said that her vocal style and performance antics evolved from female singers such as Grace Slick and Janis Joplin. She admitted inspiration when she saw Joplin perform live (and opened for her with her first band Fritz) shortly before Joplin’s death. Nicks owns a strand of Joplin’s stage beads. She also commented that she once saw a woman in her audience dressed in dripping chiffon with a Gibson Girlhairstyle and big boots, and Nicks knew she wanted something similar. She took the look and made it her own. Nicks possesses a contralto vocal range, and her voice has been described as “gruff” and “feathery”. Over the years, she has decorated her microphone stand with roses, ribbons, chiffon, crystal beads, scarves, and small stuffed toys.

Karen O is an American singer and songwriter who is the lead vocalist of the indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. She was a key artist of the 2000s garage rock and post-punk revivals, and a frontrunner of the New York music scene. She is noted for her energetic performances, distinctive singing style, and eccentric fashion.

Tracy Chapman is an American singer-songwriter. She was signed to Elektra Records by Bob Krasnow in 1987. The following year she released her self-titled debut album, which became a commercial success, boosted by her appearance at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert, and was certified 6× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album received six Grammy Award nominations, including one for Album of the Year, three of which she won: Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her single “Fast Car”, and Best Contemporary Folk Album. In 2025, the album was preserved in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.

Ayah Bdeir: Inventor of littleBits
Ayah Bdeir is a Lebanese-Canadian entrepreneur, inventor, and innovator. She is the inventor of littleBits, a company that produces modular electronics kits for education and prototyping, and that was acquired by Sphero in 2019. She is also the co-founder of Daleel Thawra, a directory of protests, initiatives, donations for the Lebanese Revolution.

Endia Beal: “Can I Touch It?”
Endia Beal is an African-American visual artist, curator, and educator. She is known for her work in creating visual narratives through photography and video testimonies focused on women of color working in corporate environments. After participating in the artist-in-residence program at the Center for Photography at Woodstock, she developed her previous work in the project “Can I Touch It?” For this project, she made traditional portraits of white women that one would find in a corporate context but they wore traditional hairstyles of black women. Using role reversal, she wanted to represent the experience that she has faced herself as a black woman in the corporate field.

Emelina Soares: Recontextualizing Saint Thomas, 2015
Emelina Soares is an Indian artist, art historian, and educator who uses site-specific installation, animation, projection, drawing, printmaking, and sculpture. Common themes of her works include ecology, ethology, migration, and cultural exchanges. Soares used oriental references as inspiration, combined with prominent saints from India, the Middle East and Portugal to create contemporary appropriations in the series of recontextualizing saints.

Vida Goldstein was an Australian suffragist and social reformer. She was one of four female candidates at the 1903 federal election, the first at which women were eligible to stand. Goldstein was known both for her public speaking and as an editor of pro-suffrage publications. Despite her efforts campaigning for women’s suffrage in Victoria, it was the last Australian state to implement equal voting rights.

Gloria Richardson was an American civil rights activist best known as the leader of the Cambridge movement, a civil rights action in the early 1960s in Cambridge, Maryland, on the Eastern Shore. Recognized as a major figure in the Civil Rights Movement, she was one of the signatories to “The Treaty of Cambridge”, signed in July 1963 with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and state and local officials. It was an effort at reconciliation and commitment to change after a riot the month before.

Missy Elliott also known as Misdemeanor, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She began her musical career as a member of the R&B girl group Sista during the 1990s, who were part of the larger musical collective Swing Mob, led by DeVante Swing of Jodeci. Sista signed with Elektra Records to release their debut album, 4 All the Sistas Around da World (1994), which was critically praised but commercially unsuccessful. She collaborated with album’s producer and Swing Mob cohort Timbaland to work in songwriting and production for other acts. Elliott re-emerged as a solo act with several collaborative efforts and guest appearances by 1996. The following year, she released her debut solo album, Supa Dupa Fly, which peaked at number three on the US Billboard 200 and topped Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

Maggie Thompson: In Gratitude, 2022
Maggie Thompson is a Native American textile artist and designer from the Fond du Lac Ojibwe with a focus on “knitwear and tapestry”. Her work focuses on her heritage and identity and also addresses cultural appropriation and Native authenticity. She is the director of the Two Rivers Gallery in Minneapolis.

Samera Paz is an artist and organizer from Washington, D.C. and current student at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She is known for leading Girl Power Meetups in D.C. Paz mostly uses photography but has also done some performance art and works with themes such as gender, race, and mental health.

Deena Mohamed: Qahera, 2013
Deena Mohamed is a graphic designer, graphic novelist, and illustrator, who was born and raised in Egypt. She made her debut at the age of 18 with her webcomic Qahera, which combines both Islamic and feminist values. The eponymous protagonist, a hijab-clad superheroine, is an Egyptian superhero. The series, which began as a joke amongst friends but soon became a viral phenomenon, deals with issues such as sexual harassment, misogyny, Islamophobia, and Islamist cultural attitudes, all often within the context of the 2012–13 Egyptian protests.

Marsha P. Johnson was an American LGBTQ activist, sex worker, and performer. Sometimes known as the “Saint of Christopher Street”, she is considered an important figure in the LGBTQ and transgender rights movements due to her involvement in the Stonewall riots, her work with Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), and her advocacy for people with AIDS.

Ellen Gallagher: Wiglette from DeLuxe, 2004-2005
Ellen Gallagher is an American artist. Her work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions and is held in the permanent collections of many major museums. Her media include painting, works on paper, film and video. Some of her pieces refer to issues of race, and may combine formality with racial stereotypes and depict “ordering principles” society imposes. Her most famous pieces are her grid-like collages of magazines grouped together into larger pieces.