There is little room in today’s political discourse for possibility. It is this or that. Wrong or right. Admirable or despicable.
In such an environment, there are few opportunities to pause, think, and wonder if another way might be possible. Though increasingly rare, invitations to consider these alternative views are essential to conceiving the idea of a more just and equitable world as well as seeing a path towards that brighter future. It might even be said that we are on the brink of forgetting entirely how to pose questions that create the space of imagination.
Herein lies The If Women Project’s power, impact, and promise. Created by Scopio founder Christina Hawatmeh and artist/writer Dominique Anita Mahoney, The If Women Project poses the question: What would the world look like if women were in charge?
A seemingly simple query, it nevertheless opens a new universe of possibility that If Women calls on artists, creators, and dreamers from all walks of life to capture in works of visual art. These works will be published in a gorgeous coffee table book by HarperOne and available wherever books are sold.
It is difficult to overstate the potential inherent in a collectively created work of art that imagines a woman-led world, so I was grateful to chat with co-founder and project facilitator Dominique in these nascent stages of The If Women Project.
Lorissa Rinehart
Today is a particularly special day because I'm joined here by project facilitator of the If Women project. Dominique Mahoney, she is a brilliant writer, visual artist and curator. She also grew up in the Middle East as the daughter of a US diplomat and Syrian Armenian homemaker. Dominique found stability in the arts and read literature from Enid Blyton, Jaqueline Wilson, Paul Jennings, and, of course, Mad Magazine. After spending a decade in Dubai educating watch enthusiasts on horology in the luxury industry, she relocated to the United States. She is currently getting a degree in mass communications journalism and learning about life in America while based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Welcome, Dominique; thanks so much for being on the female body politic.
Dominique Mahoney
Thank you, Lorissa, thanks for having me.
LR
Oh, it's my pleasure.
So I have just been so enjoying your Substack and your writing, as well as your artwork, and it is so unique and particular, I think, to you and your experiences. To begin with, I hope that you can talk a little about where you grew up and where you are from.
DM
I grew up in several different places where I'm from, and it changes based on who I am talking to and where I am. My mom is Armenian, and my father is American, but we live all around the Middle East. I was born in Germany, and the place I'd say was home was Egypt because we lived here the longest, and I kind of got to know it the most in terms of how a person feels like they're from home. It's a place where they know where the best job bar is, like, where they get a bit of the best hookah or the place that actually lets you in the bar that you know will let you get away with a fake ID, like, those kinds of tiny things that those details, I guess, are what determine where, where is home. So it was Egypt, but I'm grappling with moving and relocating to the States, first LA, and now we're in Vegas. Re-calibrating or realigning with what home is. It is quite a process; you are not from that place anymore but are trying to get from the new place so that you mentally can succeed there.
LR
Yes, and it's incredibly difficult. I also had somewhat of a nomadic childhood, not to the degree that you did, but I found that literature was very much how I found home anywhere I went. And it seems to me like not entirely, but in part, art is a way that you relate to wherever you are. I'm just curious: did you have an experience at a museum or a gallery or with an art piece that made you realize that art has the capacity to allow us to rethink where we are in life and where we might go?
DM
For sure, I grew up around art, so it's going to museums that's for my parents and then doodling in class when I preferred to be drawing rather than where I physically was so kind of transporting myself wherever I could be because I couldn't choose where we moved around. So art acted as a portal for me, and it didn't even matter what I was drawing. So it wasn't just the act itself.
Well, it was not actually my relationship with art that led me here. It was my partner, Christina. She came to me knowing my experiences, how I grew up and where I grew up, what caused me to leave, and all that. And we have the same views regarding the female role, kind of not being given the entire length of freedom we wanted. And, you know, she grew up in America, in the States I went to and started, you know, she started her business Scopio, which is this entrepreneurial business, envisioning the average everyday person being able to upload their content and make money off of it, and even though I lived in a different place and kind of had, you know, a different life than her, we just always connected in terms of, why can't we do more? And she gave me this opportunity and said, I'd like you to run this project.
And she started off a conversation of what if women were in charge of the world instead of men, and what would that look like through art? And she came to me, I think, I mean, I can't speak for her, but I know that throughout our relationship over the years, she kind of knows that my experiences, I know what it's like to be in a position where you have this whole story and this whole narrative, this whole point of view that's not seen, not recognized, not even acknowledged, and if you try to get it out, you're just either called crazy or, you know, difficult or not, someone that is really dealt with if you don't get in line with what society wants, and even if you have an issue with it, you should have to suck it up. She knew that I had a lot to say about the matter and not just have a lot to say. I have this anger that I didn't get to express certain things in the moment where I should have expressed them because the understanding of society was something else, and I was just called crazy. Essentially, that's why doing this project is kind of like my way of making up for all those times that I couldn't coherently come forward and be like, This is wrong.
It's like there's a time and a place to be able to really take hold of your narrative and to say it, and being able to put that opportunity out for someone else, and letting them do an artwork that I know from experience creating art, how not just cathartic life saving. It is that you're able to say this is my world, and I see things differently. I don't agree with what's happening around me, and it's a way to make it truth, essentially, that no one can take away and no one can negate. They can't gaslight or brainwash you. They can't they can't interfere with the work of art. No one can so to be able to let other people around the world, wherever in the world, that let the artist or person, everyday person, that loves to draw and express themselves, or paint or whatever. Let them be published.
But, yeah, a major publisher. You know, Harper Collins is a major publisher, and for them to go and say, I was published here, saying this about what I see around me, it causes an impact.
LR
It has weight. It carries a weight, absolutely carries a weight, not just for society at large but also for the individual and the individual actor. And that almost is more important, right? Because then it goes beyond just the book; it's every interaction of their continuing life to know their truth and that a community of women has validated their truth. It didn't really plan on going into this, but of course, now the Taliban is precluding women from really gathering, prohibiting that community from happening, right? Because that's where our power is in the community. So, The If Women Project is a wonderful way of building the humanity of ideas through visual representation. I just wanted to go back to your work, and then we're going to go into the If Women project more specifically. But you touched on this in your last answer: one of the things I first noticed about your work, particularly your writing and visual work, is that you make visible the often invisible structures of patriarchy and depression. I also wanted to talk about your strategies for doing this and why you think it is important to visualize the invisible.
DM
I don't like it when people try to hide things, especially when they're causing an impact. They impact the family around them, their friends, and when I see certain relationships and power dynamics. The other person feels like they don't have a fighting chance because they don't even know what's going on. And I know this because I grew up in a community where, often, none of us knew what the hell was going on, and we just kind of reverted to, okay, you know, he's the, he's like my brother. You know, he's the patriarchal figure. He's my brother. You know, he knows best. I'm just gonna listen to what he's saying. He's the authority. He is because he is the authority. Exactly. So then my work was on its own. I didn't even do it on my own. I started creating art that started, honestly, really upsetting people around me, especially the authority figures; they kept interfering and would interrupt, and the the less I would listen, the more problems would happen. But I couldn't not do it.
LR
Yeah, there's no other option, what? And once you and I've been thinking about this in my own life, especially at this moment, right, once you know your truth and where you are meant to go and how you are meant to go there, there are two options. One, you go, and you do it no matter what. Or two, you kind of choose to kill that in a very real way. And you do it with drugs or alcohol or depression or, you know, clinical drugs, or what, whatever it is.
DM
I was gonna say it was either that or drinking myself silly every other, you know, every other, every weekend, and with that so happening more and more. So, yes, yes.
LR
And you know, it's difficult because the drinking is or the drugs, or whatever it is that women do. I mean, a lot of times you look back at women's history, women's history, and you see so much medication prescribed to them so that they become compliant and complicit. You know, that's something that we do to ourselves now with alcohol and drugs. So, yeah, I can entirely relate to what you're saying, and then also being on the other on the other side of it. So thank you for sharing that. Because I think it's incredibly important for other women and girls to hear that it's not easy, it's very difficult to live this truth. But for me, so far, it is much better on the other side. So, could you just encapsulate what the If Women project is?
DM
The If Women Project is about giving artists, men, women, and children from all walks of life this opportunity to express a different way to do things from the lens specifically of a woman. The world was founded on man males, as in man-made systems. We've seen how that's gone. And, you know, it's just the Women Project. It is just time to take a breath. Let's stop and portray an artwork, whatever you know. If I'm a man or woman, whatever I am, let's do it a woman's way.
So let's get a straight heterosexual man to the artist, you know, to do a piece that put in, put himself in the shoes of a woman. And how would he tackle a certain area of life that's important to him? It could be health care, it could be politics. It could be climate change, it could be human rights, it could be reproductive health, whatever area that kind of matters to the individual person, artist person, let them express the way things would be done if a woman was in charge of it. It's about showing a different world. And it doesn't necessarily have to be better or worse. It's just up to that individual person to have the opportunity to express how they think things would look under a woman's rule.
LR
Other ideas, other projects, other art pieces, and other literature have existed within this tradition. But I love that this is sort of a larger tabula rasa for people and for anyone. It's not a person you and the If Women project are giving permission to anyone to imagine a different world and even asking the question; I believe has power, because even, like, I'm not a visual artist, I'm not gonna do anything. But even hearing the question sort of made my mind explode slightly. Even as, like, a feminist and a women's historian and someone steeped in this philosophy and ethics, it's like, Wait, 93% of all world leaders are men. What if they were women? That, in itself, is a super powerful question, and I love that it is open to anyone, regardless of gender, age, of course, race and religion, and all this other stuff, but that we are all invited into this imagined future. And on that note, I did want to ask you, right? Because this is an art project, I also understand it as a visual arts exhibition, and I would love to tour around the world. I think seeing these works on the wall would be so exciting. I think there's a certain amount of gravitas that's granted to works in a white cube. You and I can nerd out about that later, but I am curious: what criteria are you using to curate these final pieces that will be included in the book?
DM
Talent, really just talent and truthful, how truthful that art piece is. For example, one of the pieces on the site is by Saman Saberi. She's from she's Irani. When I saw her piece, it was just kind of that aha moment of, okay, this is what the project is about. Because seeing it, you know, putting the question out there, as you said, is one thing, and then seeing an artist's response is quite it's just kind of brought it to completion. And it's like, for her, you know, there would be no death penalty, you know, you'd have to see the website again to know what I'm talking about. But to see this kind of noose in a, you know, as an artifact in a museum, and it's just something to kind of look at and really evaluate that, you know, yeah, we used to execute people by hanging because they spoke out against the government and did certain things like, you know, and just kind of really reflect on the actions of how a country has made kept power, and What would it look like for her? It's just so much more than just there'd be no death penalty. People would be able to express themselves, and there would be no need to be, you know, executing people for expressing themselves. That is, we're also pairing the artworks with two to three-paragraph stories. So, you know, the artist gets to explain their piece and say why they chose to portray that society in the way they decided to portray it. We have some pieces that are kind of of the past as well. There is a portrait of Madame CJ Walker by the fiber artist Sonia Clark. She's more of an honorary inclusion because she's such an established artist. She is one of the first to pioneer fiber art and make it a recognized form of artwork. And she's quite reputable, and to have her piece included was reflecting on Madame CJ Walker, who's from the past, but letting us imagine, kind of put into context of there was a time when, you know, she, she paved the way for women millionaires, like she was the first female millionaire. Yeah, so
LR
I don't know who Madam CJ Walker is. So who? Who is this incredible woman that we should all know, and yet I don't know - as a women's historian!
DM
She invented a kind of hair product. I'm sorry I can't tell you the exact year, but this was quite a long time ago, and she broke barriers. Became the first female, not even black female, the first female millionaire. Wow, incredible. In the States. I'm not sure about the worldwide, but in America.
LR
Probably the first self-made millionaire because, like the queen, she's a bit, you know, she's the power, but she didn't make that money.
DM
Self-made. I should have clarified, and that's the most important word in that sentence. The first self-made millionaire, a female millionaire, and she did it during a time when no one could even imagine, like black women freely getting a job, like, you know, becoming a CEO, or something like, You know what I mean, like, she did it during a time where that was unimaginable.
LR
I love that because she did what was unimaginable. And that's what The If Women Project is trying to do, which is trying to make the unimaginable imaginable. I also just want to geek out about fiber arts real quick, because I think it's important that we talk about the lineage of fiber arts and why that is particularly important to women's empowerment and the recognition of women's work. So could you just define what fiber arts is?
DM
It's working with objects in order to portray your meaning. And so it's not sculptural, it's not painting. It's somewhere in the middle, and the portrait of Madame CJ Walker is built of cones. They're different in different shades, so you kind of see the portrait, and it's her silhouette, not her silhouette, her portrait where she's sitting up. The combs are in different colors, so you see the shape and her features kind of come through based on the way that she's dyed the combs.
LR
So often, women, particularly women of color, were denied access to the traditional art media, right? You can't just go out and buy oil paints and a canvas. You have to make work with what is available to you. And that work, because it was women's and because it was made of everyday objects, was discounted by the art world to a large degree. So, to have this portrait made of everyday objects by a woman of a self-made millionaire in the medium in which this woman made her money is just this incredible accordion statement of taking back our power and taking back our narrative. So I just love that that is included in your project. It's one of the anchor works. It's such a brilliant foundation to expand on or just a puzzle piece within this larger tableau. I am an art nerd, if you can't tell, in addition to other things, so I apologize if I've geeked out too far to be nerdy about.
It sounds like the project has been well received so far, but I'm just curious: what has been your interaction with folks that you've been reaching out to and then folks that have been submitting to you? Are there any interactions that really surprised you, positive or negative, or just how? How are you seeing this sort of bubble up in the world positively?
DM
When I communicate with artists, when artists reach out and ask, I see like an artist and say; I hope you submit. I also don't believe in going to the artists and asking them to do a piece for If Women. It's been more of a if you're interested. I like your work. Feel free to check it out. It's more like that because it's supposed to be something when they see it. I would like the artist to see If Women and think, oh my god, I would love to submit to that I have an idea. You can't coax that out. You can't ask someone to please give me a truthful, meaningful idea that will really shift your perspective and everyone else's perspective.
You don't. It has to be a heart. So, you know, the artists that I've noticed and that I feel like their style, their work, aligns, and that, you know, the type of things they're into aligns with If Women, then, you know, it'll something will strike a chord with me, and I'll reach out, and I'll be like, you know, I like your work. Feel free to check us out. You know, then the rest is up to them. It's what I'm focusing more on: getting on the social media channels and kind of just getting the call to action as far as possible out there, and that's been the challenge, especially on Instagram and TikTok.
I had a video kind of go viral about after Bashar Al Assad left and fled Syria. I did have a kind of short reel on now that you know Bucha has left, there's now this enormous power vacuum. What If Women were to take charge of that power vacuum? And, oh, my god, the response was just very firstly, not there. We're over, like, 50 comments or something, and not a single person answered the question of, oh, it would look like this. Not a single one. It was all just, are you crazy? A woman in charge of a Muslim country? And then a lot of the go back to the kitchens, the posts that kind of was, you know, I guess a funny trend that people are into for a bit, and then arguing about politics, and it just got people very riled up, but not one of them even tried to answer the question.
So, and this, these are all Western people. These were not Middle Easterners commenting from personal experience. You know, this would not be the response. It would be. I feel like the question would be taken more seriously if I'd asked abroad to abroad audiences, they would genuinely be like, it would be this and this and this. But instead, I got a response: just kind of no one taking it seriously, really, and arguing over politics and just being like, That's preposterous. And I'm doing all this political commentary so that I can start up a conversation and get some input, and I am getting that input, but my end game is to reach artists. You know, any artist loves being asked a question that makes them think something different.
LR
That brings me to an interesting point: a juxtaposition between If Women and social media in general, right? Because I feel like women's voices are largely silenced on social media because of the comment section, right? We can put stuff out, but I rarely comment on, you know, feminist posts content on Instagram because the comment section becomes just this vortex of misogyny. And I'm like, do I want to jump into that and make myself vulnerable to it while not changing anyone's mind? And the answer is often no.
We have this very dangerous misconception that social media is third place, a third place like a coffee shop, a lecture hall, or, you know, a community center. What do you have? And it's not a third place. It is a place for billionaires to make money however they can, and that happens to be elevating violence in various ways. And we can go into that or not. But what I like about The If Women Project and other projects is this re-envisioning of modes of conversation. How can we have a dialog with each other that is protected, safe, and productive? We've lost those spaces and the capacity to do that a lot since social media became our dominant form of communication. So the way you're describing talking to artists, being very gentle, and asking them if they would like to participate if it's interesting to them is wonderful to hear. And then, just imagining the potential for conversation around the book when it comes out is exceptionally exciting to me, personally. So, speaking of the book, when do you envision it being published?
DM
The timeline we've been told is sometime in 2026. We have to hand in the first manuscript in April 2025, and that's why we've set the deadline for the art pieces on February 14. When we reach that date, we're going to kind of reassess from there and see how many submissions we've got in and whether or not we will extend them in case there's more out there. So that's the first push, first push. Then, I also have to author the book in terms of just an intro. And then, as we go along, every chapter I put in an intro addresses that area. It's going to be divided into different chapters: intro, then Women's Reproductive, Reproductive Health, Women in Politics, If Women and Climate Change, and so on. So it's divided into 10 chapters under those like different headlines to do different aspects of life in the world, and, you know, world issues, and I'm curious as to what you hope the sort of tale of this project being because it's not just a book, it's almost like a manifesto for the future.
LR
So what is the, first of all, what is the form of this book? Is it like a coffee table book, or is it a reference book? Or what sort of form it is going to be published in.
DM
So, each art piece will have its own page, with two to three-paragraph stories and have them in this coffee table book format, where, as you know, it can be distributed, and people can have it in their bag. They can have it on their table. They can, you know, give it to a friend. Then they just kind of have this whole new world in their purse, in their hand, something they can talk about and share and compare. Because looking at, imagine an artwork done in Egypt, comparing it to an artwork done in Canada, and being like, Oh my God. Like, that's they have the same solution. Like, that's so cool. I don't want to say men. I want to say that in our present world, man is made and has been born from systems made by men. It's like you have to kind of, if you deviate from the system, whether you're a man or a woman, if you're deviate from this, deviate from this man-made system created by men, then you are the problem until you can prove that no, this is inefficient, and you know this.
You know, harm is being done, or waste is happening because of this, and they, you know, you have to fight tooth and nail to get your point across right because even the mechanics of communication that we have are largely based on a male ethos. We can return very easily to social media. But what art has the capacity to do is transcend gender and envision a world that is created differently.
LR
I just want to return quickly to your work and your writing because both your visual art and your writing have this wonderful, I want to say, ambiguity to them, but it's an ambiguity that allows for the expansion of one's own opinion and thought process.
You often ask questions in your work, you don't give people answers, and I'm thinking of your most recent series of substacks, and I forget the title. Still, you give three different examples of a woman acting a certain way and being penalized by society, and you describe what she has done, and then you describe the repercussions. And you ask, Is it her, or is the society behaving unethically? You don't say which it is. And I think creating those moments for people to consider their thoughts and consider their preconceptions are both rare and invaluable.
So I love that you are facilitating this project with, Undoubtedly, this idea, not of prescription, but of invitation to imagine a different world.
DM
I'm so happy you said you spotted that. Lorissa, that was so great to hear you say that because part of my struggle internally is coming to terms with these two different worlds that I'm not. It's not to say that there's something so wrong with that way of thinking, and so wrong with that way of thinking. It's just they're just different. And that's why I pose these questions. Because, apart from the fact that I grew up literally in my, it's in my DNA to be diplomatic. My dad is a diplomat, and so I was raised in that kind of way, and you always have to respect everyone else's way of life. You cannot encroach upon them or judge, and as an artist, I've always felt like part of the artist communities that I've been around. Because artists, by nature, are the opposite of judgmental. They don't judge. They welcome they need those experiences. They need those insights. They need to provoke even, you know, so sometimes I'll say something, or someone will say something that's quite provocative, and it's to get a reaction so that you see life happening, and you know you are to see an experience and to bear witness.
It's that's why I'm happy that you spotted that, because I want to always; I think that the question is, is it enough for someone to look at something different and to at least give your chance to see that it's different? Give yourself a chance to see something different. And you don't even have to do things differently or go down that path, just see it. Give yourself a chance to see, and hopefully, when you're next faced with a choice, you will have more information. You have a different perspective that lets you know, wait, if I make this decision, though, there's going to be this other whole world that's impacted, and that's the point of if women, it's seeing a different world.
LR
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much. I think we're just going to end on that perfect encapsulation of the If Women project; I had such a wonderful time talking with you, Dominique and I hope everyone follows along on sub stack, on Instagram, on where, where else can we find you where? I mean, on Substack, Instagram, and tick-tock. That's enough. Honestly, that's enough. Yes, I'll follow on all those platforms. I'd love to have you on again as the project sort of takes more shape and draws near to a conclusion because I am just so looking forward to the if women project and this sort of global visualization of what the world would look like if women were in charge. So thank you so much. Dominique for your questions, for your insight, and for your vision.
this transcript has been lightly edited for clairty.
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