African American Performance Art Archive

Maren Hassinger first performed Women’s Work in conjunction with her collaborative performance with Senga Nengudi, Side by Side, at “Les soirées nomades: Nuits Noires,” at the Foundation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, Paris, France, in April 2006.  Hassinger explains, “‘Women’s Work’ was my individual creation. Senga had an individual creation and then we made an extended piece together [Side by Side] which involved a video review of our work together over the years and a gift giving segment involving the Paris audience.”

Hassinger adds, “In 2009 the ‘Women’s Work’ piece was reprised during an evening of performance organized by Ulysses Jenkins called ‘Quiet as Kept’ at the California African American Museum (CAAM) in Los Angeles.  This evening was in honor of my receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women’s Caucus [for Art] that year and to the many African American women artists of Los Angeles.  Many of them were present that night, including Senga.”