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Female Power Project, perSISTERS designs

Be Present for Ieshia Evans

Be Present for Ieshia Evans, perSISTERS print design in the Female Power Project. To purchase contact the Creatrix.

Ieshia Evans was arrested in Baton Rouge in 2016 while protesting the murder of Alton Sterling by police. “It was silence. It was just a lot of nonverbal communication. Sometimes, silence speaks volumes.” “What did you want your silence to say?” “I’m human. I’m a woman. I’m a mom. I’m a nurse. I could be your nurse. I could be taking care of you. You know? I’m here. We all matter. We don’t have to beg to matter. We do matter … I never really considered myself to be in the definition of brave. But sometimes, jobs are given to you that you’re not really—you didn’t apply for. You know?”

From a photograph captured by Jonathan Bachman

theguardian.com and cbsnews.com

DESIGN NOTE

I began the Female Power Project in 2015. Previously I had been making digital designs that I had printed on fabrics to make scarves and shawls. In 2015, because the Pope was visiting the neighborhood where I have my studio, I made a shawl design representing the iconography of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Something seemed to happen when a woman put on this garment. It was like she was wearing the power of the person represented. I decided to explore this idea using representations of other powerful females. I have made designs honoring Harriet Tubman, Malala Yousafzai, Maya Angelou, Erzulie (the Haitian Lwa of love in her aspects of maternal love), Marie Curie, and Frida Kahlo. Each of these designs required months-long processes of research, visual experimentation, and proofing. It was very slow and expensive, but also transformative. When our woman candidate lost the presidential election—to an abuser of women—my first thought was, “It didn’t work.” The powers at work against us are just too large and sometimes seem metaphysical in scope. I became fascinated by the image of Ieshia Evans’ passive resistance, her power and grace—and beauty—in the face of these bizarrely dressed over-militarized police. I wanted to make work about this woman but a shawl about her seemed absurd. I made mixed medium assemblage and paintings instead. It was after the Women’s March that I realized that I need to work much faster and in an easily distributed medium. I started with iconic images—thinking everyone would know them—but soon realized I need to include the historical background with each print. I don’t work very hard on this part of the writing because I want to be able to make the work really fast so I can respond to events as quickly as possible. I believe the real writing happens when I work on identifying the power or message in the particular story or event—unless I am responding to a meme (“Reclaiming my time;” “Nevertheless she persisted”) in which case the culture has already distilled the words of the message for me. These texts must be very short and avoid cliché. These are micro-poems expressing the urgent actions and attitudes of mind that speak truth to power and activate a transfomative rhetoric of the marginalized. 

PRESENCE: Honoring Ieshia Evans (Female Power Project)
Female Power Project, perSISTERS designs

Show Up for Tess Asplund

SHOW UP for Tess Asplund perSISTERS print in the Female Power Project. You can purchase this design online at this link.

Tess Asplund, born in 1974, is a Swedish activist who gained attention because of her protest against neo-Nazis in Borlänge, Sweden. David Lagerlof is the photographer of the viral image, which shows Asplund facing 300 uniformed members of the Swedish Nordic Resistance Movement with her fist in the air. She is originally from Colombia and describes herself as Afro-Swedish. “It was an impulse. I was so angry, I just went out into the street,” Asplund told the Guardian. “I was thinking: hell no, they can’t march here! I had this adrenaline. No Nazi is going to march here, it’s not okay.” “I hope something positive will come out of the picture. Maybe what I did can be a symbol that we can do something—if one person can do it, anyone can.” 

based on Wikipedia and the Guardian

DESIGN NOTE

I began the perSISTERS series with three iconic images of women protesters: Danuta Danielsson, “BE BRAVE” (woman hitting a neo-Nazi over the head with her handbag), Ieshia Evans, “BE PRESENT” (the awesomely poised woman in a breezy sun dress getting arrested by three riot police looking like intergalactic warriors), and this one. In all of these I have cropped in to focus on the woman’s figure, stressing that she is the agent in the tableau. (You can also see this effect in the Ruby Bridges design.) I had just experienced the DC Women’s March and I was captivated by the idea of putting my body in a particular space at a particular time in order to communicate a message of power. 

As I was working with this image I was drawing a path around the figure and her bag. Zoomed in, I saw how lumpy her bag is, and I realized she had her groceries in there. She was out doing her shopping when she was called to stand in that place at that time in that way. She was already there, but then she “Showed Up” with a very fundamental posture of resistance. My work in the perSISTERS series is my posture of resistance. Shortly after this photo was captured the police officer in the background pulled Asplund out of the way of the marchers.

Photo by David Lagerlof
Assemblage Sculpture, Female Power Project, What I'm Making

PRESENCE: assembling the shards (Female Power Project)

Here are some process images of the piece I have in the EMULSION 2017 exhibition opening Friday, March 3 and closing March 16, 2017. I will be participating in an informal discussion on this piece on Thursday, March 9 sometime between 6:00 and 7:30pm. https://www.facebook.com/events/380502832306923/

The piece is a ladder holding 10 containers (re)constructed from shards of broken vessels, arranged on seven levels in three columns. Inspired by concepts found in the Jewish mystical tradition, the piece comes from the conviction that something fundamentally destructive has happened and a rebuilding must be undertaken. The shard vessels are strange and the original vessels—from which the shards came—are prosaic, kitschy, and often ugly. There is no pattern to follow to create the repair except for failed traditions and institutions, but still, something must be done. There is a pathetic absurdity to the objects and the enterprise; still, the stakes are high and humans must continue to be present and act in the world even when the presence of good is hidden. In the Jewish tradition this imperative is called Tikkun Olam, or “Repair the World.”

Nice shadows! "PRESENCE: assembling the shards" in the PEPCO Edison Place Gallery at 702 8th Street NW, Washington DC
Nice shadows! “PRESENCE: assembling the shards” in the PEPCO Edison Place Gallery at 702 8th Street NW, Washington DC

Starting with thrift store knick knacks. In the Jewish tradition, creation was a "Shattering of the Vessels" when the originating power (in a "Big Bang") could not be contained, and the shards of these primal vessels were dropped into the world. For the purposes of this sculpture I imagine that any object in the world could be a shard of the primordial vessel, especially things which are separated from their original purpose.
Starting with thrift store knick knacks.
In the Jewish tradition, creation was a “Shattering of the Vessels” when the originating power (in a “Big Bang”) could not be contained, and the shards of these primal vessels were dropped into the world.
For the purposes of this sculpture I imagine that any object in the world could be a shard of the primordial vessel, especially things which are separated from their original purpose.

Starting with thrift store knick knacks. In the Jewish tradition, creation was a "Shattering of the Vessels" when the originating power (in a "Big Bang") could not be contained, and the shards of these primal vessels were dropped into the world. For the purposes of this sculpture I imagine that any object in the world could be a shard of the primordial vessel, especially things which are separated from their original purpose.
Shards. The vessels were simpler to destroy than to assemble. The shards, themselves polluted, are said to function as containers to protect the sparks of power scattered in the world. For more about “shards” in Kabbalah (Qliphoth) see this article.

Creating vessels from the shards. I combined shards from different vessels to make the new vessels.
Creating vessels from the shards. I combined shards from different vessels to make the new vessels.

Building in stages. I experimented with different adhesives. I didn't try to make them look perfect. I felt like the enterprise was pathetic. I matched up similar edges.
Building in stages. I experimented with different adhesives. I didn’t try to make them look perfect. I felt like the enterprise was pathetic. I matched up similar edges.

I scribed words into lead sheets scavenged from wine bottles. There is a long tradition, most evident in ancient Roman archeology, of magic words being written on lead sheets and thrown into wells and other contained spaces.
I scribed words into lead sheets scavenged from wine bottles.
There is a long tradition, most evident in ancient Roman archeology, of magic words being written on lead sheets and thrown into wells and other contained spaces.

There are ten aspects to the sparks hidden in the world, along with ten opposites that stand in tension with them. These aspects are represented by the words scribed into the lead and attached with a chain to their opposite inside the vessel, hanging inside and out in a similar way to how a label connects to a tea bag.
There are ten aspects to the sparks hidden in the world, along with ten opposites that stand in tension with them. These aspects are represented by the words scribed into the lead and attached with a chain to their opposite inside the vessel, hanging inside and out in a similar way to how a label connects to a tea bag.

The word for the good aspect (e.g. ‘Beauty”) is hidden inside the vessel and the evil opposite (“Blame”) is hanging on the outside to name the evil shard-vessel.
The word for the good aspect (e.g. ‘Beauty”) is hidden inside the vessel and the evil opposite (“Blame”) is hanging on the outside to name the evil shard-vessel.

The word for the good aspect (e.g. ‘Beauty”) is hidden inside the vessel and the evil opposite (“Blame”) is hanging on the outside to name the evil shard-vessel. In this way the good power in the world is shielded by the deformed vessels.
In this way the good power in the world is shielded by the deformed vessels.

The ten aspects are traditionally depicted aligned in three columns with seven levels, as they are in the sculpture. The aspects are called "sefirot" and their arrangement is called the tree of life.
The ten aspects are traditionally depicted aligned in three columns with seven levels, as they are in the sculpture. The aspects are called “sefirot” and their arrangement is called the tree of life.

In this sculpture I arranged the sefirot like this, from top to bottom. 1. Error (Division Based on False Knowledge) encloses UNITY 2. Confusion encloses WISDOM 3. Secrecy encloses UNDERSTANDING 4. (Greed and) Waste encloses ABUNDANCE 5. Domination encloses STRENGTH 6. Blame encloses BEAUTY 7. Hatred encloses LOVE 8. Failure encloses SPLENDOUR 9. Pollution encloses CLARITY 10. Fear encloses ACTION
In this sculpture I arranged the sefirot like this, from top to bottom.
1. Error (Division Based on False Knowledge) encloses UNITY
2. Confusion encloses WISDOM
3. Secrecy encloses UNDERSTANDING
4. (Greed and) Waste encloses ABUNDANCE
5. Domination encloses STRENGTH
6. Blame encloses BEAUTY
7. Hatred encloses LOVE
8. Failure encloses SPLENDOUR
9. Pollution encloses CLARITY
10. Fear encloses ACTION

I was struck by how the words describing the divine and its opposite relate to the ideas of the #resistance
I was struck by how the words describing the divine and its opposite relate to the ideas of the #resistance

In the Jewish tradition, humans are tasked with the project of "Repairing the World." This involves being present (“Here I Am,” says Abraham) with the holy presence of the sparks. The goal is to reunite the scattered sparks with the original power. The sparks are said to be the feminine aspect of the original, undifferentiated, power. This is how “Assembling the Shards” relates to the #FemalePowerProject.
In the Jewish tradition, humans are tasked with the project of “Repairing the World.” This involves, along with proper actions, a being-present (“Here I Am,” says Abraham) with the holy presence of the sparks. The goal is to reunite the scattered sparks with the original power. The sparks are said to be the feminine aspect of the original, undifferentiated, power. This is how “Assembling the Shards” relates to the #FemalePowerProject.

The viewer of the sculpture is prompted to mark her own presence by taking a pebble from the bucket and placing it on the ladder. This is a practice relating to another Jewish tradition of placing a pebble on the tombstone when visiting a grave.
The viewer of the sculpture is prompted to mark her own presence by taking a pebble from the bucket and placing it on the ladder. This is a practice relating to another Jewish tradition of placing a pebble on the tombstone when visiting a grave.

I assembled "Assembling" in the gallery last Wednesday. On March 9, sometime between 6:00pm and 7:30pm, I will give an informal 5 minute talk about this sculpture. I hope I don't sound like a crazy person. I am not a Jewish mystic. I am an artist.
I assembled “Assembling” in the gallery last Wednesday. On March 9, sometime between 6:00pm and 7:30pm, I will give an informal 5 minute talk about this sculpture. I hope I don’t sound like a crazy person. I am not a Jewish mystic. I am an atheist artist of Jewish ethnicity. (A distinction without a difference?)