Susan Kleckner’s First Major Retrospective Uncovers Radical Legacy Through Four Decades of Feminist Art and Activism
Opening January 2026 at Haverford College, Raw Material: The Art and Life of Susan Kleckner Presents an Expansive Reappraisal of Her Life & Work
Beyond the Gallery Walls, Exhibition Includes Programming Across Philadelphia, Including Re-imagining of Kleckner’s Window Peace Performance at Public Trust and Film Screenings at Lightbox Film Center and Haverford College
January 23 - April 5, 2026
Haverford, PA (August 27, 2025) — This January, Haverford College’s Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery will present the first comprehensive survey of the pioneering feminist artist and filmmaker Susan Kleckner. Curated by William Kaizen, Raw Material: The Art and Life of Susan Kleckner will be on view from January 23 through April 5, 2026, bringing together nearly 100 works across photography, film, installation, collage, performance, and performance documentation—many of which have never been publicly exhibited.
Spanning over 40 years of creative experimentation and political engagement, the exhibition offers a long-overdue exploration of Kleckner’s multifaceted career and illuminates her enduring influence on feminist, queer, and activist art practices in the U.S. and beyond. Known primarily as a photographer, Kleckner’s work was celebrated in feminist circles during her lifetime–she was instrumental in uniting Women Artists in Revolution (WAR) with Feminists in the Arts and was a founder of the Women’s Interart Center in New York City. However, institutional and structural barriers—including struggles with mental and physical illness—contributed to the near-erasure of her artistic legacy. Raw Material is the result of years of recovery and scholarship, made in collaboration with those who knew Kleckner personally.
Raw Material takes its title from an unrealized photographic series and publication Kleckner developed late in life, which documented experiences of institutionalization and recovery. The exhibition is organized thematically, presenting key bodies of work that reflect Kleckner’s approach to art as both a personal and political tool. Highlights include:
- Self-portraits from Kleckner’s final years, created during intensive psychoanalysis and palliative care, reflecting her evolving understanding of the body and identity;
- Photographs and mixed media works representing queer life and sexuality;
- Her series of photos documenting Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp –a 19-year anti-nuclear protest and encampment at the U.S. Military Base at Greenham Common in England – a radical example of both a female-led protest and functional anarchist community;
- Documentation of performance-based actions, including Window Peace – a year-long performance in the storefront of SoHoZat, an underground magazine and comic book store in New York, inspired by her time at Greenham. Every week, a woman artist occupied the 5 by 6.5 foot display area furnished with a few basic amenities and could create any work they wanted, as long as they remained in the window visible to the public.
In conjunction with the exhibition, programming across the city, including film and performance, will represent and reimagine her work. Curated by Kaizen and Jesse Pires, the series includes:
- A re-imagining of Window Peace organized by Kiran Jandu, with original participants and younger artists over one week at Public Trust
- Screenings of some of Kleckner’s most important feminist films at the Lightbox Film Center, including Three Lives (1971) – a documentary where a woman came out as a lesbian for the first time in a feature-length film – considered the first feature-length documentary produced by an all-female crew, and The Birth Film (1973) – one of the earliest films to document childbirth from a feminist perspective.
- A screening at Haverford College of the iconic Another Look (At the Miami Convention) (1972) – a radical vérité-style chronicle of Shirley Chisholm’s campaign and the 1972 Democratic National Convention.
Raw Material reintroduces Kleckner as a vital voice in American art and political media, whose work intersected with movements for women’s liberation, peace, and mental health advocacy. “Kleckner’s art was never about purity of form—it was about the raw, lived experience of being a woman, a patient, a teacher, a witness,” said curator William Kaizen. “This exhibition invites viewers to reckon with the intensity of her vision and the emotional and political stakes of her work.”
A fully illustrated monographic catalog, scheduled for publication in Spring 2026, will further contextualize Kleckner’s life and legacy. Edited by Kaizen, the publication includes essays by both Kazien himself and art historian Siona Wilson, as well as a conversation between artists Linda Cummings and Susan Jahoda, offering scholarly and personal insights into Kleckner’s radical creative practice.
The exhibition forms part of Haverford’s ongoing commitment to presenting under-recognized figures in American art and creating opportunities for research, preservation, and public access to important yet marginalized legacies. Major support for Raw Material has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.
About Haverford’s Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery
An integral part of the John B. Hurford '60 Center for the Arts and Humanities, the Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery (CFG) is the principal venue for the Haverford College Exhibitions Program, which aims to extend cultural literacy through the display and analysis of work across visual and material media.
Envisioning exhibition spaces as active workshops for the exploration of visual culture, the Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery partners with faculty, students, and visiting curators to design exhibitions that connect curricular interests and scholarship with contemporary artistic practice. In so doing, we encourage intellectual inquiry and artistic innovation in the Haverford community and greater Philadelphia region.
Drawing on the vibrant arts community and world-class museums and galleries of nearby Philadelphia, the Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery showcases some of the region’s most compelling new artwork; at the same time, the program strives to bring noteworthy artistic exemplars of both national and international perspectives to the area.
About the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage is a multidisciplinary grantmaker and hub for knowledge-sharing, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and dedicated to fostering a vibrant cultural community in Greater Philadelphia. The Center invests in ambitious, imaginative, and catalytic work that showcases the region’s cultural vitality and enhances public life, and engages in an exchange of ideas concerning artistic and interpretive practice with a broad network of cultural practitioners and leaders.
Media contact
Sara Griffin
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