Golub was at the forefront of art and activism throughout his career, and in the 1970s and 1980s he produced damning critiques of violence, torture, and coercion carried out by institutions and governments. He worked in both painting and printmaking. In this print, the text describes a brank, also known as a scold’s bridle, a device used over several centuries to literally silence and punish women, often with fatal consequences. Golub’s gestural rendering embodies the violent use of the device and begins to take on animal-like characteristics, such as pointy ears, which read as an indictment of the torturer’s inhumanity. Golub is quoted as saying, “The nightmare of history has no beginning and no end.” In revisiting the past, Golub draws attention to power dynamics in the present, inviting the viewer to critically reflect on what tools of power are used today to silence women.
–History Lessons