The Trophy Wives Prep Program

The Trophy Wives Prep Program takes its cue from two sources: the finishing school, a real and historically prestigious institution that trained elite girls in deportment, compliance, and the art of advantageous marriage; and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments, where similar training is stripped of its genteel pretense. Atwood built Gilead from parts of existing and historical societies. This work simply issues the trophies.

Each Campus Cutie is an award, presented to those who successfully complete a distinct course of study: Ku Klux Karen, Fiona the Fundamentalist, Missy the Misologist, Agnes the Agnotologist, Nancy the Nativist, Militant Militia Marjorie, and nine others. Sixteen trophies in total, each hand-painted and mounted on a laser-engraved base, each celebrating a distinct mode of complicity, denial, or harm.

The humor is intentional. So is the weight underneath it.

Made in 2022, just as trad-wife culture was entering the mainstream, the work arrived before reactionaries said the quiet part out loud. The trophies were already waiting.

Painted 3D prints mounted on laser-engraved boxes. 2021-22.