sisters in making

prototyping and the feminine resilience

image of machine components against a white background

this is a memory disguised as a machine.
it is part of a research and archival endeavour undertaken by déborah tsogbé and soala ajienka in Fall 2023 through MIT Distinctive Collections' Women@MIT Fellowship.

image stills of 2 factory workers, one Black woman and one white woman, fabricating a core rope module

the endeavour focused on physical, intellectual, and social efforts made by women working across MIT & commercial partner labs in contribution to the success of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing.

close up images of a woman fabricating a core rope module, one shot over her shoulder and one of her hands

of special interest were the textile and handcraft skills put to use by 'rope mothers' in order to fabricate the core rope memory which was essential to the operation of the command module. many of the women were pulled from textile and watchmaking factories in the Cambridge, MA area.

wiring key for the memory dialer close up of wiring on the memory dialer

the memory dialer (above), fabricated by déborah, is modelled after the pivotal core rope technology. it holds the names of 19 women who were particularly notable in Apollo 11 operations.

close up of two hands interacting with the memory dialer shot of exhibition space with machine and posters shot of display case in reading room with library patrons in foreground shot of poster grid on reading room wall

the endeavour culminated in an exhibition in MIT Rotch Library from January to April 2024.