Friday, November 9, 2012
the conversation and July work
Somehow in the collage of time, history warps itself around the legends and myths of perpetual life, more to the point , of human life. With Oedipus complexes, with Eskimo traditions, with Hebrew laws, with witch burnings, a woman stands, inaugurated into the cycle of life as a possible direct bearer of our future.
Perhaps we feign ineptness to comprehend the wisdom, spirituality, or taboos that are represented in a womans' monthly blood, yet it is an isolated element of life modern western culture that shuns its very presence.The core aspect of civilization ostracized for its creative power.
That fact is the close similarity between cholorphyll and hemoglobin, the essence of our blood.' This is no fanciful comparison, but a literal, scientific analogy: 'The one significant difference in the two structural formulas is this: that the hub of every hemoglobin molecule is one atom of iron, while in chlorophyll it is one atom of magnesium.' Just as chlorophyll is green because magnesium absorbs all but the green light spectrum, blood is red because iron absorbs all but the red. Chlorophyll is green blood. It is designed to capture light; blood is designed to capture oxygen
In January beginning with the installation of 1050 degrees F, the issues of children in war, an almost unanimously global affair around the world, arose in me with new horror, Israel and
The Gaza Strip was under going serious conflict in December 08/January 09...I must say - humanities are my primary focus. To me it was grotesque that the recent flare up in Palestine concurred so decisively with the exit of Bush and the signing in of the present president 'O you know who', about 20 days of nobody per say in office. I watched in horror as day after day women, men , and children were burned and blown to bits. Right from the get go, I realized as soon as the new president was in office- things would already be in government discussion- all too late to have stopped this right away- so I had to wait the full course, and sure enough, it was as I had predicted.
1050 was a "witness" piece- simply saying-I am a mother, and "I see you", and I feel compassion.
I began to watch the issue of children around the world, and the societies they are in. I watched Cambodia, Iran, Iraq and its Depleted Uranium effects. I watched Zimbabwe.
Struggling deeply with the subject matter that I had been working with- wondering why cant I just paint yellow flowers instead. I crashed into sadness and frustration of the subject of death . I realized "I have a problem ( with the ways of the world)- tengo una problema". This is how I literally began the piece. In the upper left corner, I began to write I have a problem...and asking..........
If we have all been inside of a woman- If we all know what it is to be inside a woman- If women raise men, if men are our husbands, our fathers our lovers, brothers, why is it that most of the worlds greatest atrocities are committed by men in power?
In asking this question to myself, I also shared it with others, and the answers that I got across the board contemplative pauses, with intense and diverse responses . I thank all of you with whom I conversed about it with, for the insightful thoughts.
I began to look for one symbol that would represent the beginning of the cycle of life in a figurative way. Was it the DNA chain? Is it the umbilical cord?
Bingo! Blood...
It brought forward- what is it to be a woman?
Perhaps we feign ineptness to comprehend the wisdom, spirituality, or taboos that are represented in a womans' monthly blood, yet it is an isolated element of life modern western culture that shuns its very presence.The core aspect of civilization ostracized for its creative power.
That fact is the close similarity between cholorphyll and hemoglobin, the essence of our blood.' This is no fanciful comparison, but a literal, scientific analogy: 'The one significant difference in the two structural formulas is this: that the hub of every hemoglobin molecule is one atom of iron, while in chlorophyll it is one atom of magnesium.' Just as chlorophyll is green because magnesium absorbs all but the green light spectrum, blood is red because iron absorbs all but the red. Chlorophyll is green blood. It is designed to capture light; blood is designed to capture oxygen
In January beginning with the installation of 1050 degrees F, the issues of children in war, an almost unanimously global affair around the world, arose in me with new horror, Israel and
The Gaza Strip was under going serious conflict in December 08/January 09...I must say - humanities are my primary focus. To me it was grotesque that the recent flare up in Palestine concurred so decisively with the exit of Bush and the signing in of the present president 'O you know who', about 20 days of nobody per say in office. I watched in horror as day after day women, men , and children were burned and blown to bits. Right from the get go, I realized as soon as the new president was in office- things would already be in government discussion- all too late to have stopped this right away- so I had to wait the full course, and sure enough, it was as I had predicted.
1050 was a "witness" piece- simply saying-I am a mother, and "I see you", and I feel compassion.
I began to watch the issue of children around the world, and the societies they are in. I watched Cambodia, Iran, Iraq and its Depleted Uranium effects. I watched Zimbabwe.
Struggling deeply with the subject matter that I had been working with- wondering why cant I just paint yellow flowers instead. I crashed into sadness and frustration of the subject of death . I realized "I have a problem ( with the ways of the world)- tengo una problema". This is how I literally began the piece. In the upper left corner, I began to write I have a problem...and asking..........
If we have all been inside of a woman- If we all know what it is to be inside a woman- If women raise men, if men are our husbands, our fathers our lovers, brothers, why is it that most of the worlds greatest atrocities are committed by men in power?
In asking this question to myself, I also shared it with others, and the answers that I got across the board contemplative pauses, with intense and diverse responses . I thank all of you with whom I conversed about it with, for the insightful thoughts.
I began to look for one symbol that would represent the beginning of the cycle of life in a figurative way. Was it the DNA chain? Is it the umbilical cord?
Bingo! Blood...
A friend of mine had sent me photos a menstrual blood painting some months ago of Latin American origin. "Duh...of course...it never occurred to me". I had always wanted to include blood as a material.
The first month- I tried simple drip and gauche with the blood. Used as elements within the works. "Blood and Gold" was my thought
resulting in this first piece, where the blood is placed behind a transparent photographic image and installed as you see it here.
As month two came around, after asking WHY, was I still on track with my work? I started painting again with the blood- Is not the cycle of life's beginning when a girl grows up and begins her menses...is it not the possibility of life itself/or death as it may be? Does she not symbolize the future to a man? Is not fertility the continuation of life? So many cultural, spiritual, philosophic discussions regarding menstruation came to being, ranging from the most sacred to dirty in modern society. It brought forward- what is it to be a woman?
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