WLA’s ‘Archives After Dark’ Displays History That Doesn’t Stand Still

A woman in a swimsuit locks eyes with the viewer. Around her, synchronized swimmers glide in symmetry, frozen mid-dive. A few tables down, a flyer with a typed caption below warns, “Distorted ideas of beauty are hazardous to your health.” 

Nearby, a serpent slithers through the collage, red scales etched with words of resistance against misogyny. And farther down, delicate pencil sketches rest beside bold, digital prints. Each piece doesn’t just hang — it confronts, insists, remembers.

This is “Archives After Dark,” a first-of-its-kind evening exhibition held April 3 inside Loyola’s Women and Leadership Archives at Piper Hall. For a few hours, history stepped out from its shelves — not as static paper or old photographs, but as vibrant proof of women’s creative resistance. 

Emily Reiher, the director of Women and Leadership Archives, said the archive has 11 different areas of focus. For “Archives After Dark,” they wanted to focus on the theme of women in the fine, visual and performing arts.

The exhibit’s collections span generations, from vintage synchronized swimming costumes to protest prints by feminist collectives. The works on display encompass a wide range of feminist sketches and zines in addition to religious paintings, sourced from artists based in Rogers Park, Edgewater and the greater Midwest.

“We wanted people to experience the original items — not just scans or stories about them,” Reiher said. “You’re not just looking at the art. You’re stepping into its legacy.”

The legacy Reiher mentioned includes the Terrapins Synchronized Swimming Club from Mundelein College, which merged with Loyola in 1991, whose synchronized swimmers performed elaborate water ballets. 

Attendees found themselves reflected in the radical imagery on display — not only visually, but spiritually, too. Local Chicago artist Andrea Cook saw the work of 1980s and ’90s feminist collective Sister Serpents not just as art to admire, but as a legacy to inherit.

“I’ve been an artist activist for 10 years fighting the fascist leadership and I’ve been doing a lot of protesting,” Cook said. “Walking in here and seeing that women have been doing a similar level of effort is inspiring, and it feels like I’m part of a legacy and part of a generational power.”

While the event offered a visual timeline of women’s labor and artistry, it also safeguarded progressive work that might otherwise be dismissed. Cook said it’s important to have a space for radical work that might otherwise be hidden because of their subversive content.

“Women artists are erased often from history — it pisses me off,” Cook said. “So to walk in here and know that these archives are preserving marginalized voices, especially in a time when we’re seeing history rewritten, it matters.”

But curating the past is only half the work. For Reiher, public access is just as vital as preservation. That means making sure these materials aren’t locked away but remain alive, active and accessible.

“It’s always important for archives not to just preserve history, but make it available,” Reiher said.

The event wasn’t limited to older records or art. Much of the collection celebrates legacies that are still in progress and artists and activists whose work remains ongoing. 

Reiher and her team featured papers from Virginia Broderick, a Mundelein alumna who specialized in religious artwork, and Anna Stonum, a graphic designer and disability rights advocate in Chicago.

Their work — and the archives behind them — challenge narrow definitions of what women’s art looks like and who it speaks for.

“We are still actively collecting,” Reiher said. “Our collections are very much a living organism, and when someone deposits their artwork, their papers, their collection with us, that’s not the end of the relationship — it’s just the beginning.”

That sense of momentum wasn’t lost on attendees, with many expressing how the event made space for both personal reflection and political urgency. Sarah Cunningham, a second-year multimedia journalism student, said the exhibit is a necessary reminder to stay afloat in political turmoil.

“It’s very easy in times like this to feel hopeless as many of women’s rights continue to be stripped away and as more and more women’s voices are being silenced,” Cunningham said. “Artwork like this really does just remind us of how important it is to stand up to the patriarchy and the oppressive voices.”

Natalie Jensen, a second-year social change and advocacy major, said she was wrestling with the complexities of activism in a digital age where visibility often feels mandatory but not always meaningful. Jensen said the display was both powerful and complicated.

While the exhibit pedestaled women’s rights, Jensen said she still didn’t feel it was enough. As she walked between flyers and calls to action, she said institutional gestures don’t automatically translate to the radical values seen on the table.

“This event is phenomenal, and I’m glad Loyola put it on,” Jensen said. “But that doesn’t mean Loyola is radical. Feminism is intersectional. And if you’re raising tuition, ignoring ICE on campus, not helping students financially — you’re not fully living up to that.”

Marvin Galvan, a second-year nursing student, said while some of the work was from 50 years ago, it still translates to today’s problems. Galvan said it’s important to be reminded work is still needed before equal rights are achieved. 

The Serpent Sisters flyers pointed out double standards in beauty, misogynistic views on women and the limitations women have in workplaces. Galvan said that talking about art in the past is a way to see how we can improve in the present and prevent problems in the future.

“Back then, you didn’t see this kind of art everywhere,” Galvan said. “A lot of these ideas weren’t talked about back then, but the fact that they were ideas back then and that their concepts of protests and huge organizations that we see today are really big for society.”

As the event closed, what lingered was not just the art, but the invitation it extended — to contribute, to question and to claim space. Reiher said archives are important for everyone that the Women Leadership Archive would love to expand with Loyola professors and initiatives.

Reiher said word-of-mouth outreach remains vital in developing whose stories are told and whose are preserved. To grow the archive and give students and the community access, they need more voices.

“We want the community to know they’re welcome here,” Reiher said. “And that their history and their voices matter.”