The New Yorker reinvents a wartime icon wearing a pussyhat to support the Women’s March

This week’s cover of The New Yorker reinvents a wartime icon in celebration and support of the Women’s March. The painted illustration by Abigail Gray Swartz depicts a mixed race women recreating the iconic pose of Rosie the Riveter, wearing a pussyhat – the item that has come to represent January’s worldwide Women’s March.

Françoise Mouly, art editor at the magazine, writes in the 6 February edition: “The ‘pussyhat’ made its appearance around the country at the Women’s Marches of January 21st. New Yorker writers discussed the humor of the protests, the radical possibility they represented, and the togetherness of the event.”

The illustrator marched in Augusta, Maine, and was inspired by the spirit of the day to paint Rosie the Riveter wearing the now symbolic item. “I marched for my three-year-old son and for my six-year-old daughter,” says Abigail. “Even though I couldn’t take them with me, I was there for them.”

Abigail calls herself a “mother and an activist” for refugees, the LGBTQ community and Black Lives Matter. She has also worked on illustration commissions for the New York Times and Lenny Letter.