MassArt to Screen “Women Laughing,” Celebrating 100 Years of Women Cartoonists at The New Yorker

BOSTON, MA  — What can cartoons tell us about the changing role of women in American culture? Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) will explore that question with a free public screening of Women Laughing, a documentary by cartoonist and filmmaker Liza Donnelly and Kathleen Hughes celebrating the history, humor, and creative contributions of women cartoonists at The New Yorker. The event takes place Monday, October 26, at 7pm at MassArt’s Tower Auditorium, 621 Huntington Ave, Boston.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A featuring Donnelly, New Yorker cartoonist Amy Hwang, and Lisa Kennedy, Chair of MassArt’s Illustration Department, moderated by MassArt President Mary K. Grant.

“At MassArt, we know that art and design can help us engage with the world around us, ask difficult questions, and open new conversations. Cartooning uses humor and visual storytelling to do just that, illuminating the issues of our time,” said MassArt President Mary K. Grant. “We’re pleased to bring this conversation to campus and invite our community to consider how creative expression can foster civic engagement, spark dialogue, and offer new perspectives.”

Women Laughing takes an insider’s look at women cartoonists at The New Yorker from the magazine’s earliest days to the present, examining how artists have used the single-panel cartoon to express their lived experiences and engage with some of the defining social and political issues of their time.

Founded in 1925, The New Yorker featured a woman’s cartoon by Brooklyn artist Ethel Plummer in its very first issue. Yet women cartoonists would largely disappear from the magazine by the 1950s, returning in significant numbers only in the late 1970s. Women Laughing brings this overlooked history to light while celebrating the groundbreaking artists who helped reshape the form.

The film features conversations between Donnelly and a new generation of New Yorker cartoonists, including Roz Chast, Emily Flake, Sarah Akinterinwa, Liana Finck, Amy Hwang, Bishakh Som, Emily Hopkins, Maggie Larson, Arenza Peña-Popo, and Victoria Roberts. Donnelly also speaks with Emma Allen, the magazine’s first female cartoon editor.

Together, the artists reflect on their creative processes, the challenges and obstacles they have faced, and the ways women have used humor to comment on their lives and society. The film connects pioneering work addressing sexism—including Barbara Shermund’s cartoons from the 1920s—with contemporary work engaging issues such as #MeToo.

“Cartoons help us look closely; they explore universal truths, turn conventions on their heads, and help us see our common humanity,” says filmmaker and cartoonist Liza Donnelly. “Cartoons hold up a mirror, reflecting the good, bad and the ugly, while making us laugh.”

Event Details

What: Screening of Women Laughing, followed by panel discussion and Q&A
When: Monday, October 26, 2026, at 7pm
Where: Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt), 621 Huntington Avenue, Boston
Tickets: Free and open to the public. Register via Eventbrite.
Speakers: Filmmaker and cartoonist Liza Donnelly, cartoonist Amy Hwang, and MassArt Illustration Department Chair Lisa Kennedy, moderated by MassArt President Mary K. Grant

About the Speakers

Liza Donnelly is a writer and cartoonist for The New Yorker, writing about culture and politics for forty years. She writes and draws for The New York Times, CNN Opinion pages, and The Washington Post. Her popular Ted Talk, “Drawing on Humor for Change,” received 1.5 million views and was translated into 42 languages. Her Substack newsletter of politics, writing, and cartoons, called “Seeing Things,” has over 150,000 subscribers.

Donnelly innovated a new form of digital visual journalism, live-drawing. She has covered the presidential debates, protest marches, the Oscars, Grammys, State of the Union, and much more for CBS News, CNN, and The New Yorker.

Donnelly is the author/editor of eighteen books for adults and children, most notably Very Funny Ladies, a history of women cartoonists of The New Yorker. Her work has been in numerous exhibitions globally, including the Library of Congress Prints Collection and The Museum of Illustration, and she has curated exhibits of international cartoonists, here and abroad.

Amy Hwang has drawn cartoons for The New Yorker since 2010. Her work has also appeared in FT Weekend Magazine, The New York Times, Air Mail Weekly and more. She is a winner of the National Cartoonists Society’s 2019 Silver Reuben Award for Gag Cartoons. Amy is currently working on a book of cat cartoons. She lives in Scarsdale, NY with her daughter.

Lisa Kennedy is the Chair of the Illustration Department at MassArt, as well as a daily painter, artist, and educator. She grew up along the northeast edge of the Hockomock Swamp in Massachusetts. She received her BA from Roger Williams University in Graphic Design, a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Illustration, and an MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2D.  She is rooted in the daily painting project and teaches workshops on habitual art making, called Embrace the Practice™. Her interdisciplinary background includes licensing, visual storytelling, diary comics, installations, narrative paintings, graphic medicine, and collaborative community based projects. Additionally, she is the Design Editor for Mount Hope Literary Journal.

Dr. Mary K. Grant has been President of Massachusetts College of Art and Design since 2021. As President of MassArt, Dr. Grant is deeply committed to raising both the College’s institutional profile and the importance of art, design, and making as ways to address society’s most complex issues. Dr. Grant has served as President of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) and Chancellor of the University of North Carolina Asheville. She was also the President of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate and led the Martin Richard Institute for Social Justice at Bridgewater State University. President Grant serves on a number of boards and advisory committees including the National Board of Directors of Campus Compact, a national coalition of colleges and universities committed to advancing the public purposes of higher education, is Vice Chair of the Board for the Norman Rockwell Museum, and a regular contributor on GBH’s “The Culture Show” with Jared Bowen. President Grant has received numerous awards for her leadership and service, including the Pinnacle Women’s Leadership Award from the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and the Gaurasci Award for Presidential Civic Leadership and holds honorary doctorates from Williams College, Eastern Connecticut State University, and MCLA.