A Room of Her Own (Ballad of Ruth Coxe)

In, A Room of Her Own (Ballad of Ruth Coxe), contemporary photographer Pola Esther presents a portrait of Ruth Anne Brown Coxe of Old Lyme in an exhibition of photographs and installation elements. A complex and unconventional person, Coxe, who died at age 85 in 2015, was an embattled figure who clashed with others on politics, womanhood, and religion. Carrying hand-lettered signs or displaying them in her front yard, Coxe sought attention for her legal battle to retain the 18th-century homestead and farm she occupied with her two sons in Old Lyme following the death of her husband, Constitutional lawyer Samuel H. Coxe III, in 1981. Advocating for a return to America’s agricultural roots, she promoted organic farming and opposed government actions that would affect the town’s rural character. Her protests, as well as her homemade bread and produce, became fixtures of town life.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.