In August of 1920, the nation’s attention was on Tennessee. The 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote throughout the country, had passed at the federal level a year earlier, and was now making its way through state legislatures for ratification. It needed 36 states to approve it, and was stalled at 35. Tennessee was its best hope for ratification. The final vote for ratification at the State Capitol in Nashville on August 18, 1920 was historic. The exibition Ratified! Tennessee Women and the Right to Vote at the Tennessee State Museum uses artifacts, documents, large-scale graphics, videos, interactive elements and public programming to share the stories of the Tennesseans who came to have decisive roles in American women’s struggle to gain voting rights.
Why Van Straaten?
Due to our previous work at the American Civil War Museum in Richmond, VA, van Straaten was referred to the Tennessee State Museum to help build and create a new temporary exhibit.
Cees Mmit was able to assist van Straaten in managing the execution of this huge exhibit project in the Tennessee museum. This resulted in a visually stunning exhibition, which made a lasting impression on every visitor. A real journey through time in which the stories of the Tennesseans who came to have decisive roles in American women’s struggle to gain voting rights, were shared.
How we work
For the exhibit, a variety of horizontal (size 450 cm x 60 cm, size 307 cm x 207 cm) and vertical scrims (size 110 cm wide on top, 40 cm wide on bottom, 365 cm tall) were printed on Blockout Stretch , a non fraying, foldable, dimout and very soft hand high density textile with brilliant colors. Besides that the horizontal and vertical scrims were framed onto our double sided aluminum extrusion profile, type Double 44, and they were hung from the ceiling throughout the exhibition. All vertical scrims were connected to the concrete floor to prevent them from swaying.
