During my sharing of work last week, I was amazed at the responses from my beautiful cohort of women artists. It was fun to see everyone get a little fired up about the image I presented for my wandering muse. When I went searching for images of my muse's work I kept seeing the image of a vagina, labia and all her juiciness. There was a hint of doubt and fear about putting an image like that in front of people, let alone talking about it. But I have become comfortable with this image, this dialogue over the years of working with my body. The Feminine, my body, the body, violence against women, prejudice, success, roles, myth, movement, connection and the collective unconscious have been my work. Pieces of each or some or one show up in all of my art, because I have committed to knowing them. And I have come to own them all as a part of me. As I continue to read "The Courage to Create" by Rollo May, I am reminded by what he says when I feel this doubt about making or sharing "The Pink Ladies"."Commitment is healthiest when it is not without doubt, but in spite of doubt."
This statement gives me a confidence then to make works of art that might stir up people's feeling and levels of comfort. Similar to Ghada Amer, my wandering muse, her pieces reflect her questions of the roles of women, oppression of women and female sexuality. Ghada's commitment to these discussions continue to influence her work and I'm sure for her, her confidence in presenting the topic to the art world. Looking at her work I feel a connection to the embroidered images of a woman in a sexual position repeated again and again on the canvas. The connection I feel is to the bold symbols used, embroidery and it's association to women, looking sexy and it's association to women, and the repetition of these symbols and images in multi media that I see over and over again. Part of me is shocked to see these women and part of me identifies with her too....ha! This would explain the shock! haha! We all get a little freaked out about those shadows that pop up and remind us that they are a part of us too! So thank you Ghada, thank you for bringing those shadows into the light. I too want to bring my own shadows into the light, to see them and own them as a part of me.
More work of Ghada Amer's.
