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Artwork of Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg

Physically demanding.
Psychologically draining.
Creatively expansive.

 

My kind of art.

Artist Statement
Artist Bio

Exhibitions

Addict Panel

ADDICT

Spring 2021
Washington, DC

American University
Katzen Center

Firstenberg Rockville "EYES"

Eyes

Empty Fix Official Logo copy cropped(1)

October 2019
Montgomery County, Maryland
Veterans’ Memorial Plaza

Firstenberg "Unforgotten"

Unforgotten

September-October 2019
Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda Metro Station

Alienable Right To LIfe Washington DC Suzanne Firstenberg

Alienable Right to Life

August 2019
Washington, D.C.
H-Space Gallery

Featured Art

Updraft America Home Page Slider

Updraft America

Partisan politics render Congress dysfunctional.  From a year’s subscription to The Congressional Record, I folded 10,752 paper airplanes, striped them red or blue, and installed them in opposing bins, rising into the air in squadron-like formation.  Those that bridged the divide took on the color purple, the color of reason in politics.

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Unpresidented Featured Art v1

UnPresidented

In 1895, Edvard Munch created his iconic pastel painting, The Scream.  This re-imagining of it is drawn using Donald Trump quotations.  The railings and sidewalk provide a timeline in which the horror of the Covid-19 pandemic slowly unfolds.

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We the People | Featured Art | Suzanne Firstenberg

We the People

In one of its first acts, the Trump administration worked to ban immigration from six predominantly Muslim countries.

 

Khe Sapa

The 1868 Fort Laramie treaty returned the Black Hills of South Dakota to Native Americans. Six years later, when an expedition led by General Custer found gold, the treaty unraveled. Fifty years after Congress officially broke the treaty, the carving of Mt. Rushmore began, indelibly claiming this sacred land.

 

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Cadmus

Paul Cadmus died just three years after enactment of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Cadmus’ drawing of his partner of thirty years is redrawn here using the Writ of Certiorari and the testimony before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Windsor case (2013) which successfully sought the repeal of Section 3 of DOMA.

 

 

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Cadmuse II Featured Art Suzanne Firstenberg

After Cadmus II

This companion piece, again a re-creation of a Cadmus drawing, is realized using the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Windsor case.

 

 

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Surplus | Suzanne Firstenberg | Featured Art

Surplus

America has already experienced three straight years of increases in our homeless population.  Because of COVID-19, it is expected that an additional quarter of a million people will be homeless, literally living on the streets, by the end of this year.  Surplus is created from the rubble of a Chevy Chase, Maryland sidewalk.  

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Dead Sea Featured Art Suzanne Firstenberg

Dead Sea

Oceanic dead zones worldwide have increased eight-fold since the 1960’s.  Created from 16-guage, hand-bent steel, Dead Sea is an apocryphal warning.

Featured Art Image | Alienable with Border

Alienable Right to Life

Mass shootings happen when angry, troubled individuals have access to firearms.  With the pull of a trigger, they deny their victims the foremost right upon which our country was founded–the inalienable right to life. Each person who argues against common sense gun legislation is also complicit in this denial.  

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Protect Them

Americans spend over one billion dollars each year on child safety items: car seats, bike helmets, water wings. But what are we doing to keep them psychologically safe? As you walk through this art installation, you will hear voices recounting their hurts that haven’t healed, their stories of bullying, social isolation, neglect, abuse.

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Empty fix

Our Addiction Crisis

I have interviewed hundreds of people in dozens of states to understand our nation’s continuing drug addiction crisis.  Learn about my travels and preview the seven art installations created to decrease stigma.  You’ll learn what makes some people more vulnerable and see what it takes to conquer addiction.

Visit Empty Fix Website

Yesterday’s Gallery