Part of the From War to Peace series, Mail Call honors the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion (the Six Triple Eight), a predominantly Black women’s unit of the U.S. Army that cleared an astounding 17-million-piece backlog of wartime mail in England. Their precision and speed restored vital lines of communication — and morale. Despite exemplary work under grueling conditions, they returned to a segregated America that still denied them equality.

Layering personal and historical narrative, the assemblage references an audio recording the artist’s mother sent to a brother stationed in Europe — divided into two records to comply with Army regulations — of her singing “Un bel dì” from Madama Butterfly. The snippet of score includes the famous aria’s opening notes. By contrast, while the war raged in the Pacific, the Metropolitan Opera withdrew the opera from its repertory — given the plot of a young Japanese geisha abandoned by an American naval officer —a telling cultural context for the period.

A soda fountain with upturned stools quietly anticipates the coming Civil Rights sit-ins — a reminder that distinguished service abroad did not guarantee respect or rights at home.

Mail Call connects women-in-WWII history, African American history, military postal logistics that bridged the front and the home front, and social justice in a single contemporary narrative assemblage.

Materials: Dollhouse miniatures, quartz, freshwater pearls, Murano glass, jasper, onyx, paper, fabric, ribbon, mirror

Framing: Archival museum glass in a deep black custom frame by Chevy Chase Art Gallery, Washington, DC.

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From War to Peace (Series)

A collection of miniature, historically grounded narratives tracing a cultural shift that still resonates today. During World War II, women stepped into expanded roles — cryptography, logistics, parachute rigging, radio repair, and more — only to be steered back toward narrowly defined domestic expectations as the war ended.

Drawing on period posters, archival photographs, and symbolic materials, each work juxtaposes wartime competence and leadership with postwar ideals of home and femininity. Intimate and research-driven, the series rewards careful viewing, restores these contributions to the historical record, and reasserts these women as clear role models for later generations.

Steeped in World War II women’s history, the series highlights the roles of both civilian and military women on the home front and beyond.

Vivian Cavalieri

Waiting for the Ship to Come In

What Price Silence?