At the Grammy Awards Sunday evening, many performers, presenters, and attendees chose to either carry or wear a white rose as a symbol of solidarity with the Time's Up movement. Singer-songwriter Lorde, who is nominated for Album of the Year for Melodrama, the follow-up to her Grammy award-winning debut record from 2013 Pure Heroine, decided to go a step further to make a statement, highlighting the work of an iconic feminist artist in the process.
The "Green Light" singer posted an image on her Instagram account of a close-up of the back of her red Valentino dress, where she had hand-sewn a small piece of paper featuring one of Jenny Holzer's "Inflammatory Essays," a series of lithographs that feature different aphorisms, which the artist created between 1979 and 1982.
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Lorde copied "Untitled (Rejoice!)" in her handwriting to give her statement a more personal touch. The work reads:
"REJOICE! OUR TIMES ARE INTOLERABLE.
TAKE COURAGE, FOR THE WORST IS A
HARBINGER OF THE BEST. ONLY
DIRE CIRCUMSTANCE CAN PRECIPITATE
THE OVERTHROW OF OPPRESSORS. THE
OLD AND CORRUPT MUST BE LAID TO
WASTE BEFORE THE JUST CAN TRIUMPH.
OPPOSITION IDENTIFIES AND
ISOLATES THE ENEMY. CONFLICT
OF INTEREST MUST BE SEEN FOR
WHAT IT IS. DO NOT SUPPORT
PALLIATIVE GESTURES; THEY CONFUSE
THE PEOPLE AND DELAY THE INEVITABLE
CONFRONTATION. DELAY IS NOT
TOLERATED FOR IT JEOPARDIZES THE
WELL-BEING OF THE MAJORITY.
CONTRADICTION WILL BE HEIGHTENED.
THE RECKONING WILL BE HASTENED BY
THE STAGING OF SEED DISTURBANCES.
THE APOCALYPSE WILL BLOSSOM"
TAKE COURAGE, FOR THE WORST IS A
HARBINGER OF THE BEST. ONLY
DIRE CIRCUMSTANCE CAN PRECIPITATE
THE OVERTHROW OF OPPRESSORS. THE
OLD AND CORRUPT MUST BE LAID TO
WASTE BEFORE THE JUST CAN TRIUMPH.
OPPOSITION IDENTIFIES AND
ISOLATES THE ENEMY. CONFLICT
OF INTEREST MUST BE SEEN FOR
WHAT IT IS. DO NOT SUPPORT
PALLIATIVE GESTURES; THEY CONFUSE
THE PEOPLE AND DELAY THE INEVITABLE
CONFRONTATION. DELAY IS NOT
TOLERATED FOR IT JEOPARDIZES THE
WELL-BEING OF THE MAJORITY.
CONTRADICTION WILL BE HEIGHTENED.
THE RECKONING WILL BE HASTENED BY
THE STAGING OF SEED DISTURBANCES.
THE APOCALYPSE WILL BLOSSOM"
Holzer's work has found a new audience in the current political climate (especially her also-iconic work that states "ABUSE OF POWER COMES AS NO SURPRISE"), so it's especially poignant to see Lorde raising the profile of an iconic feminist to her millions of fans. That's why she will forever be our royal.