“THE TRUCE OF THE MAMMALS”: This work by Lourdes Bernard is featured in “The Women of April and Selected Works,” on view at the Erdman Art Gallery at Princeton Theological Seminary through December 15.

“The Women of April and Selected Works,” a research-based exhibition by Brooklyn artist Lourdes Bernard, is on view at the Erdman Art Gallery at Princeton Theological Seminary through December 15.  Bernard is a visiting scholar and the current artist in residence at the Overseas Ministries Study Center at the Seminary.

According to the artist, the narrative images celebrate and highlight the role of “The Women of April,” untrained civilian resistance fighters who fought against the 42,000 U.S. Marines ordered by President Lyndon B. Johnson to invade the Dominican Republic in April 1965. In 2017, shortly after attending the D.C. Women’s March and as the previous administration rolled out controversial immigration policies, she began to research her family’s migration journey from the Dominican Republic in 1965.

It was through this research that she discovered “Las Mujeres de Abril” (“The Women of April”), and learned of the invasion that displaced thousands of Dominicans, including her family. “The Women of April” were attorneys, journalists, artists, teachers, academics, housewives, and students. Bernard excavates this hidden history through her work, reimagining their stories and struggle for freedom.

The depictions, created with bold outlines and blocks of washy color in watercolor, acrylic flash paint, and pen and ink on paper, invite the audience to engage with this history so it no longer lives only in the memory of those who lived it.

The Erdman Art Gallery at Princeton Theological Seminary is located at 20 Library Place. For more information, visit lourdesbernard.com.