Natalie White poses in front of her message to Congress. (Still courtesy of Sheila Maria Lobo, from the upcoming documentary NSFW: Not Suitable for Women)


Update 8/12: White has turned herself in to the Capitol Police.

Original:

Natalie White was fully expecting to get arrested last Sunday afternoon.

She had just finished a 16-day march from New York to D.C. in support of the Equal Rights Amendment. Her own personal final flourish: painting “ERA now” in giant red letters on the pavement in front the U.S. Capitol. When nobody stopped her, White stooped back down to go over the message with another coat of paint. She posed for a photo within plain sight of a Capitol Police car.

And then she walked away.

Natalie White poses in front of her message to Congress. (Still courtesy of Sheila Maria Lobo, from the upcoming documentary NSFW: Not Suitable for Women)

The New York-based artist (whose 2013 exhibition was deemed too risqué by the building’s landlord) had a gallery show earlier this summer dedicated to raising awareness for what she says ought to be the 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced to Congress in 1923 and then in every subsequent year until it passed in 1972. A bitter, decade-long fight for ratification ensued—eventually falling three states short of the necessary 38. Since then, it’s languished.

“We have this congress that just does nothing,” White says. “The way that I see it is: until something is done [about the Equal Rights Amendment], we should keep on doing civil disobedience about it.”

Her latest show, “Natalie White for Equal Rights,” featured a bronze bust of her nude body, clad only in combat boots, holding an American flag. She also reappropriated symbols from the Revolutionary War to read as feminist anthems. She changed “Sons of Liberty, Defend the Republic” into “Sisters of Liberty, Demand Equal Rights” and rearranged the iconic Join, or Die political cartoon to include the states that didn’t ratify the ERA.

(Courtesy of Natalie White)

The gallery show was the prelude to a 250-mile march with 10 other participants, and included events and parties every other night. The goal: to raise awareness of the amendment and the need to ratify it.

“The thing about women making so much less money than men, it is systemically affecting minority groups even more,” White notes. “White women make 78 cents on the dollar compared to white men, black women make only 64 cents, and Latina women only make 54 cents.”

After they completed the walk, she says, “I woke up on Sunday morning and I was really upset about Hillary not talking about [the Equal Rights Amendment], Trump not talking about it … I thought if they aren’t going to put us in the constitution, I’m going to write it on the Capitol.”

So White headed back to the rotunda around 6 p.m., acting alone, with a Starbucks cup filled with red paint.

“I thought that if I got the first three letters done, then that would be like winning a national championship,” she says. But after quickly dashing the letters ERA and seeing nobody rushing toward her, she repainted them. Then White got to work on the ‘now,’ slowly going over the letters a second time, too. The whole thing took up about 6 minutes and 20 feet of pavement. “Nowhere in my mind did I see myself walking away from that,” recalls White, who adds that she has never been arrested or vandalized anything before.

But walk away she did. White later took credit for the act in the New York Post.

Yesterday, she says, Capitol Police drove up to New York City and visited her apartment—but a roommate told them that White wasn’t home. In fact, she’s still in D.C. with her boyfriend and prolific protester Adam Eidinger.

The U.S. Capitol Police have not returned multiple requests for comment; it is unclear if they are planning to charge White.

“There are 30 million women and children in poverty that wouldn’t be if women were just paid a full dollar [for what men earn]. That should be a crime—not writing six letters at the Capitol,” White says.

The artist is planning a show about the march, set to open in September at New York’s Gallery 151. “I will probably make work inspired by my vandalism that I got away with—or possibly got arrested for.”

Filed Under: capitol, equal rights amendment, era, graffit, natalie white, protest,