Shifting Tides: Women of the FisherPoets Gathering highlights the creative work of women fishermen Moe Bowstern, Erin Fristad, and Tele Aadsen.

The three women annually perform at the FisherPoets Gathering in Astoria, Oregon. The gathering encourages commercial fishermen to creatively express their experiences of the occupation, and women have taken the stage to assert their competence as both commercial fishermen and fisherpoets in predominantly male spaces.

The exhibit provides an excerpt from “Subcutaneous Layer of Fat,” a prose work by Moe Bowstern that addresses the lower expectations for women fishermen, and features several of Bowstern’s XTRATUF 'zines. It also features excerpts from Erin Fristad’s poem “Advice to Female Deckhands” and Tele Aadsen’s prose “Being a Female: An Unwelcome Reminder.” Together, these works reveal persistent issues of gender inequality in the commercial fishing industry. 

This is an archived exhibit by Oregon Folklife Network.