Eminence grise

2021

altered book: gouache, acrylic, ash, ink, paper, graphite, found objects

9-1/2" x 13-1/2" x 3/4"

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Emma Unson Rotor was my paternal great aunt. When I was growing up in Manila, she taught math and physics at Assumption College. Although she was recognized as an amazing teacher, her husband was the "famous" one. I didn't realize until later that Emma herself had an incredible story. She planned to study physics at Johns Hopkins when WWII broke out and she was conscripted to work on weapons research. As a Filipino woman, her contributions have gone largely unrecognized. I alter a book to write her back into history.

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Collection: Artifacts of Empire

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Intertextual

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Tiongson, Erwin R., Filipino math teacher Emma Rotor helped develop crucial WWII weapons tech, Science News, 2023

 

Wellerstein, Allen, Women, Minorities, and the Manhattan Project, 2015

 

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