Throughout prejudice and injustices our bodies and identity what makes us whole has changed for many of us. I have found that learning to love and respect ourselves is not an easy journey, especially as some of us face threat every day. As we ease out of lockdown and come out of what seemed like a trial of loneliness, for many of us it was an opportunity to explore our thoughts and manifestations of what REALLY makes us happy and how we express these thoughts and motions within our arts. I have found it incredibly liberating to see the diversity and inclusion when it comes to creatives and activists within Instagram but the sheer positive affirmation through empowerment and community. Nevertheless, activism of our own bodies and selves should never fall under the impression of challenging for others peoples biases, instead it should be loud and intent to break the barriers.
It has come to my attention we really enjoy finding ourselves but also exploring ourselves and our bodies, appreciating this sort of mindfulness and survival and respecting so much and every part of ourselves. So many artists are putting this essence and power within the work, so here are my top five creatives and pieces that continue to challenge the binary within sexual exploration and identity.
Nelson Morales is a Muxe* artist from Mexico who works with diverse communities within Mexico. Their work is extremely raw and stunning, and shows the strength of the beauty in womxn and challenges the gender binary as something that is powerful but also a huge part of the Zapotec culture communities lives and identity.
*In Zapotec cultures of Oaxaca, a muxe is a person assigned male at birth who dresses and behaves in ways otherwise associated with women; they may be seen as a third gender.
Kennedy Carter’s visuals and photography captures not only sociopolitical aspects but the beauty that is within each portrait and self. Focusing on blackness and black womxn, her series The Soloist highlights the love and confidence within her work. “I just take pictures” is just an essence of what she is embodying through her work.
Sara Hini is a Montreal based artist and a proud co-founder of The Womanhood project. Her work and projects focus on sex education, vulnerability and intimacy. Empowering all bodies, Sara’s work and art direction takes us on a journey of not acceptance, but of mindfulness and challenging the status quo. After all if you do not ‘accept’ all bodies, then what is there to discuss?
Halimah is an artist and creator in all forms. An illustrator that delves into the outlines and shapes that make her work sleek and caressing. The lines shaping curves of the body and face highlights the simplicity of the human form, how we all find beauty in the everyday things. Her work is up for sale on etsy also check out her podcast!
I really encourage everyone to follow and look at these artists work, challenging and appreciating ALL bodies and identities.
A late COVID-19 evening and I’m scrolling through Instagram stories, pages the edge of hopelessness looking to find some comfort. Stumbling across mutual accounts, SWANA Ancestral’s* healing and remembrance and open hands approach was a soft petal of appreciation to finding community. I had to know who was behind the page, with all its healing and forms of creativity… *SWANA for those who do not know, is the regions of South West Asia and North Africa.
Hi there ! Thank you for taking the time to chat! It has been a weird and tricky time for everyone and I really appreciate the chance to work with you! This brings me to the first question really…what is SWANA Ancestral Hub.
Hi Tania thank you so much for featuring us on I’ve seen it all creative. We appreciate it, and I am glad to collaborate and connect and learn more about your work. I am Layla, the founder of the SWANA ancestral hub. Which is a community run project that features the voices, perspectives and works of several people from SWANA region. I am just one of many who help keep it up and running. I should also say that it is just one branch of a project that I initiated in 2014 with my own personal practice River Rose Re-membrance. We initiated the نجمع جذورنا | (re)Gathering our Ancestors project with a dedication to reconnect to our ancestral bodies of knowledge and reclaim the resilience, wisdom and medicine inside our land-based ancestral traditions, cultures and practices.
What was your inspiration for starting SWANA hub?
My inspiration for starting the Hub started when I was on a personal journey of remembrance and deep ancestral seeking and healing. I was in a constant effort to connect and heal my own spirit and I looked to my own ancestors and culture to do this as best I could. But there wasn’t a wise SWANA elder somewhere that I could just go ask questions, or a cohesive body of ancestral healing knowledge to refer to. After doing the work independently and with the help of non-SWANA elders and healers for many years, I knew there were pieces of deeper re-membrance that could only happen communally. I started the hub to share and expand on ancestral healing themes with one another and start weaving the pieces of our remembrance puzzle together as a larger community. A free open platform that could reach across all the continents and different communities as SWANA peoples. There are a lot of us but in the broader population, we are often invisible or misunderstood. The hub is platform to consolidate and expand all of us who are doing that sort of archival, re-membering and reconnecting work within the community. To help us find each other and learn from one another, so that we may re-member together.
Has there been any challenges as part of maintaining SWANA hub as a page and social media space? In terms of cultural and racial differences?
We have definitely had some challenges around the algorithms, we often feel as though Instagram’s algorithm does not favour us. We have suspected this perhaps because we’re SWANA, or possibly the use of Arabic on our page. Within our own community or even within our homelands, the language of SWANA is also pretty uncommon and unfamiliar to a lot of people. Many are used to us being called Middle East and North Africa, and we were really insistent on wanting to transform the language around how we refer to our own region. As sort of just breaking away from the Eurocentric and orientalist descriptions, even if the name may make us less recognizable at times. But despite these challenges, we get visits on our website from people all over the world every month, and have built some incredible connections through social media. It is just inspiring and uplifting that this work is allowing us to relate to people all over the globe who share a value for this re-membrance work. That is ultimately why we do this.
What are some challenges you have faced in your own life when finding community? Were there moments of relief when you started finding more of a community and kinship within the SWANA hub community?
I have been very blessed and fortunate to have been very close with my community throughout my life. However, it was impossible for me to do that remembering work by myself, because each of our bodies and memories are a collaboration of history and ancestral ties. I have noticed several years working within the community that there are lots of people who come towards the SWANA hub facing insecurities and fears about joining a SWANA communal space and perhaps that is rooted in not finding acceptance. However, finding a deep relief with so much beauty and love that comes through the relationships they have made. I have noticed for people who have felt in certain ways displaced from their traditional cultures because they’re either mixed race or because they’re queer, trans, or they live in a place where there is not much of a community or their communities have treated them badly. Many have found healing and relief through joining the SWANA hub community so beautifully spacious and open. We hold each other really precious because most of us come to the hub knowing that there are so few spaces for us normally specifically for SWANA healing and nature, so we don’t take it for granted.
“Plantcestor” is a great term and is an important part to indigenous and ancestral culture. Why did you choose to create the name and how you can explain it to someone who wants to educate themselves on healing and land?
Yeah, that’s me hi! I’m trying to put the word out and about through my work with my personal practice river Rose apothecary. I feel like the name kind of revealed the name to me as I was just sitting with my practice and how I wanted to express my relationship with land and healing. As someone who is a traditional herbalist I want to use this term as a way to describe keepers of our memories, the heart of the practice with the plants is really about the ways that they came to me to support me on the journey of ancestral remembrance. I feel as though It definitely belongs to indigenous people all over the world who have understood that our plants are our ancestors!They are literally the foundation of our lives, we eat plants, we breathe because of plants, we have medicine because of plants. Our plants are our ancestors. Both on a structural level and spiritual level plants have a wisdom and have survived through some things we have survived and not have. Respecting and connecting to our plants and our Earth is a direct Avenue to the secrets inside of life and the memory held inside all our lives.
What one piece of advice would you give to female and non-binary creatives who want to share a story from their ancestral land?
To allow yourself to really take a break from social media and connect with your feelings inside your own spirits and bodies. Own your relationship to your ancestral lands even if you have never been there, or you don’t know your ancestral lands. I would encourage people to take a moment to really drop into the emotion and truth that lives inside your own body and heart. I would advise to make an offering to the Spirit of their ancestral lands or include a material from their ancestral lands that is precious to them in the process of their creation and to really speak with reference to those materials and to the spirit and the memory. Be with the energy and protection of the land.
“Many have found healing and relief through joining the SWANA hub community so beautifully spacious and open“
In these trying times of Covid-19, what important tips do you have for the community and followers trying to maintain a healthy mental and physical presence?
I would encourage people to eat natural herbs and eat your ancestral foods. These normally contain naturally protective properties that can just help your body and your mind stay strong through this time. We have some herbal resources on our website that we have shared in terms of specific remedies. Also do the things that help you to connect to the resilience and wisdom of your own spirit and body. It is super important to deepen this sort of collaboration with the land to help you be grounded and support yourself through spiritual, mental and physical levels. If you find yourself in a stress, panic and loss I feel like the land can always hold us. Even if you can’t go physically outside the earth is always underneath you, and you can always speak to and connect with the land. Sometimes drop into a deeper place of connecting to the wisdom we need and the resilience we need to get us through. I also encourage people to remember and to lean on your ancestors. Remember how much your ancestors have survived including pandemics, famine, war and occupations. So do something that brings you joy and strength, and that make you feel connected to your ancestors because there are secrets of wisdom, strength and medicine.
What does the future hold for SWANA? Of course events might have to wait for a while… How are you going to overcome future challenges? Activism? Fundraising? Lessons on the diversity of SWANA culture etc?
I feel like we will continue to be a place for the recollection of our ancestral wisdom and lineages. We are a virtual platform and my hope will be through this time of isolation and change across the earth, people will know that we are still here and that is a great time to actually do the work of looking back and looking forward towards our ancestral and cultural resilience and to just use this time to create. Be in collaboration with that, we have archives, sharing your own stories within our story collection portal etc. We will continue to take things one step at a time, and as it comes. We are committed to looking to our ancestors and to the earth directly for guidance about the challenges that face us.
Check out SWANA Ancestral’s page on Instagram and the website for all resources and re-memberance archives and texts.
As I begin writing my blog post for the new company I intern/part-time work for (we’ll get to them later), I begin to understand the journey that I have been trying to undertake for around 2 years now. Ever since graduating in Art history and Literature I knew the working world was not going to be nice to me. I have sacrificed my dreams at this point to really work on finance and marketing experience. With ticking boxes and the constant need to prove yourself to the majority white men and women it is demanding and time-consuming. Nevertheless, I am super thankful and proud to have even achieved a degree and lived in a country where it is safe and accessible for me to undertake whatever I choose. However, the amount of system failures and constant lack of respect for, LGBTQ+, BAME womxn and Disabled womxn within and outside the creative sector is simply a matter of ticking boxes and it has to stop. Yet with many companies improving in hiring more minorities, where do we see the need for progress in the future?
I am a white-passing woman who understands her position of economical and racial privilege. However, I really want to delve into the perspectives of the industry and what companies actively do to fight for inclusivity, without just simply just saying it and not doing anything about it. In my new position at this creative media company they hired me, and they have told me multiple times, to become more inclusive. In an office full of white, very privileged men I am constantly thrown off by how they talk to me and treat me. Oh, to be looked at as a talented individual for once 😦 . As a creative film company I understand that business comes first, yet their claims to be ‘inclusive’ makes me what to throw up. How can a company like that still exist today? A company that benefits from clients who are majority women and international businesses, yet will not hire one POC, LGBTQ+ or even another cis minority. Ah but YES. I AM the trophy minority in the office! A MIDDLE EASTERN QUEER woman ! God be careful boys she will judge you on your lack of hygiene and seasoning!
So why are these companies lying? It’s not only them I suppose but society and social media who use these trigger words to attract Womxn who have had to work twice as hard under racism, sexism and homophobia. They see our desperation and profit of it. This word INCLUSIVE is being passed around most creative workplaces today, with many companies looking to hire more minorities, it is becoming a lot more accessible. Of course, they cannot hire everyone and whoever gets the position will seemingly have worked for it no matter what gender, race, ability and ethnicity. But I do also see these white cis men, and I see how they navigate towards me and many other female minority creatives. It is time for it to stop. Womxn all have an important voice, and we all understand that every one of us should amplify many other voices that have been silenced and need to be heard. SO DO IT.
Womxn are tired of having to explain our lives and labours to white cis men, we just want to create work’s and spaces that really have potential to support abilities and genders from all backgrounds and faiths. This piece isn’t a hate piece directed towards cis white men. I have a lot of admiration for those who are allying and seeking the truth in their position of privilege. Whether that would be actually taking the time to dedicate communication with communities or even actively working with and striving to involve in companies that pride themselves on doing better and ACTUALLY creating a safe and much more enjoyable environment.
So what is there to be done? We have to continue to be valued, respected, welcomed and treated fairly. No Ifs and Buts. Do we have to work twice as hard to prove our points and work collectively alongside people who may have bias? Possibly. But more importantly we have a CHOICE. As it is International Womxns day, our voice is just one of billions of others creative womxn who have to sacrifice not only themselves but their families. Womxn getting murdered without a blink of justice, having to choose able to choose between feeding your family and studying, the issues for womxn go on and on, through different cultures and communities. Therefore, it is important to ally with Womxn around the world and listen to our voices. We are not asking for a hand out we are looking for an ENGAGEMENT. Businesses have profited of our backs for generations and must realise the consequences of these actions. Our differences make us who we are, but they also blind us as a global community, and we all deserve to be heard and respected, within creative spaces as well as in everyday life.
Break down those barriers and show em what you’re made of.
Growing up in Marseille, photographer Yosra experienced the fusion of Tunisian and french culture. Her work has inspired many people on social media and is picking up many viewers from around the world who share the same identities as well as perception towards photography and representation.
Yosra is a digital marketer and has worked in the industry for over 10 years. Growing up ,Yosra appreciated the different cultural influences in France, and has always enjoyed documenting this via photography. Her vision and identity have work hand in hand. Speaking with Yosra we talk about artistic perspectives and growing up with challenges within our communities and she speaks to me about the role in photographer for her and her community.
I discovered my passion for photography at 27. I’ve always been fascinated by images. Since I was a child I loved collecting postcards, making collages, but never considered being a photographer. I didn’t grow up with these artistic perspectives. As a daughter of immigrant parents, like many kids, I was strongly oriented towards “stable” and lasting jobs. One day, I discovered a speech that changed my mind about hobbies and work, The Stanford Speech by Steve jobs. It helped me understand what I want for myself. I count myself to be a hypersensitive person, and I’ve been overflowing with creativity since my childhood. Photography helps me to express my emotions, and focus my creativity.
I am inspired mostly by people. Connections, love and emotions are at the centre of my work. I used to create a ‘mood’ for every shoot, select a playlist, a story, create moodboards to translate the ideas I want to share. However, for personal shoots, I take time to get to know my clients by asking them a lot of questions to learn about them. The human aspect takes a big part of my time, and I love that.
Have there been any influences along the way?
JR is one of the photographers that influence my approach to photography. I admire the fact that he combines stories, engagement and art. It shows me a different and new way to communicate and engage people in change by creating new perspectives.
For me, cameras/gear does not make a good photographer. It’s more a question of feelings, emotions and the message/ story you want to share. For me, a good photographer is somebody who has an open mind, open to the world, differences, which is very linked to curiosity. LRNCE, Jacquemus, Casablanca, Bakchic the label, are the persons/ brands that would love to work with. Their universe is so inspirational. They innovate in the creation and build a strong identity that I love.
Poetry is the main value that drives me and my work. Poetry in the interactions with people, choosing the rights words, and the right way to respect people. Poetry in the way to shoot, by giving a beautiful and soft eye. Poetry by being open-minded, and not judging humans, trying to give my best to satisfy the people who I work with.
What challenges have you faced in the creative world?
The main challenge that I faced is to find my style. It took so much time to find my way, my colour pallet and assume it by showing my work. It’s so easy to find inspiration, but more complex to make your own sauce and not simply copy. I took so much time before showing my work as an effect of the impostor syndrome, trying to be legitimate as an artist.
Behind The Veyla
The “Behind The veyla” shooting is a project done in collaboration with Zozoliina, a designer from Marseille who entrusted me with the creation of a communication campaign to highlight the Veyla scarves. These flowery scarves are iconic accessories that our mothers and grandmothers wore.
I had the full power to imagine a project that could tell the story of these scarves that are iconic for a whole generation of women. It is a project that echoes my history, that of my aunts and my grandmothers wore in Tunisia, my neighbours in Marseille (where I grew up), these women who are gypsies, Algerians, Moroccans, Comorians. This scarf is not a simple accessory, it is a symbol that young women of my generation wear even today.I thought about this campaign as a spotlight on all these women, who from the shadows transmit, educate, exist, in the power of their invisibilities. Sharing the same story about immigration and living in working-class neighbourhoods.
Behind the Veyla is an ode to women in all aspects of diversity, to those who have built and rebuilt, who share, educate, influence and transmit. Behind the city walls, it is these women who hold power.- Yosra
What one piece of advice would you give to young people today?
Dare sister! No matter what people think. Don’t wait for people’s validation around you. Express yourself, you have so much to say and share. Get to learn, always!
The first time I watched this film I was a child, merely 10 years of age. I foolishly decided to change the channel to ITV One at 6 pm in the hopes of a family-friendly film.
However, this time I was wrong. When I tuned in Jim Henson’s Labyrinth was about to start and knowing then what I know now, I would have changed the channel. I would have put on Channel 5 and watched the hopelessly awful film that would have been on.
The Labyrinth is one of those films you watch as a child and still have the odd nightmare about well into adulthood. I sometimes wake up in sweat-soaked clothes screaming for the Goblin King to give me back my brother. I am Kyrewaah and Labyrinth still terrifies me to this day. I accept the film is a cult classic. An occult classic. Anyone who says they enjoyed this film as a child is to be feared.
In the spirit of lockdown, I decided to revisit one of the sources of my childhood trauma and find out if I will come to appreciate the film through critical and rational thinking.
The review:
Labyrinth (1986) is a British American fantasy musical directed by Muppets creator Jim Henson, starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly.
Fun fact for those who like me purposely avoided the film, it was produced and partially written by George Lucas. It completely makes sense considering I hated Star Wars for some of the same reasons I did Labyrinth up until 2017. George Lucas seems to have a particular style that either captures your heart and encourages you to reflect deeply or causes you to emotionally regress and live in fear for your childhood.
According to the official synopsis (found on Jim Henson’s site) the film centres around Sarah, a teenager with an ‘active imagination’ who summons Goblins to take her baby stepbrother away. Sarah is your typical theatre kid whose vivid imagination has inspired a world that she often falls into as a distraction from her difficult reality. In Sarah’s case, her ‘difficult reality’ is her overbearing stepmother, a father who seems to not take much interest in her and her stepbrother, Toby. My official description is ‘The Wizard of Oz’ meets scary puppets and 80s pop on drugs.
The film’s score was as typically 80s as it gets, filled to the brim with stress-inducing synths that weirdly felt like a cop drama and not in a children’s film. I must say I did enjoy the original songs especially Magic Dance. I did not understand the musical aspect of the film. There was a song thrown in randomly and it did not particularly add to viewer’s understanding of a situation. It was not distracting but a nice addition to a majorly dark and creepy film.
Henderson’s brilliant mastery of puppetry is truly evident and demonstrated with terrifying effect. I do now realise the puppets were the main source of my terror as a child because of their ghoulish and bizarre appearances. I did enjoy Sir Didymus, a fox who protects the bridge by the ‘Bog of Eternal Stench’ who looked a little like Basil Brush.
On that note, a re-watch put some of the film’s themes in perspective. Sarah is initially an extremely obnoxious and spoilt child as she wishes for her brother to be taken away. She displays some ‘White Saviour’ tendencies as she attempts to save characters and lead them towards a better life, resulting in them ending in precarious situations due to her lack of understanding of her surroundings. She establishes herself as a source of morality in a ‘barbaric’ world, forgetting the reason she is currently there. She is the white woman of principle in a broken society.
One thing I did pick up was the violent nature of the creatures of the Labyrinth. Most seemed to be out to lull Sarah into a false sense of security through song or dance and harm her in some way. Her interaction with the Firey creatures and relationship with the goblin Hoggle reflects this point. It almost felt as if Sarah’s journey represented something a little more sinister and likened to the dark journeys of many young women once they reach puberty. Henderson’s exploration of childhood and the journey through puberty was interesting, to say the least. Sarah starts the film innocently and frankly safely playing in this dream world she has created and the main negative is the injustice of looking after her brother. However, the introduction of the Goblin King intensifies these feelings with real stakes being placed in a world where there is no regard for her feelings or morality. He represents Sarah’s naïveté in a strange and twisted way. No longer are childhood dreams safe and pure but have become dark, confusing and rife with betrayal. The film fights with the idea of maturity and development of a child into an adult. By fighting to save her brother Toby, she risks losing all she holds dear in favour of a newer and darker world.
Reflections:
Having watched the film again I do have a newfound appreciation for the content and its symbolism. I can almost relate to the feeling I had to give up the brilliance and creativity of my childhood once I matured. There are movements now to reclaim lost childhoods and explore and reconnect with the things that at one point filled us with glee and happiness. Don’t let the Goblin King win.
Young Canadian artist, Maral Matig has received a lot of instagram attention through her stunning realist paintings and drawings. Her work details back to her Armenian ancestry, as well as the beauty and diversity of her culture. I talk to her as she discusses her work in more detail, with emotional and dreamy works, we step into her personal perspective towards art and identity.
Hi Maral, so tell me a little bit about yourself…
Hi, my name is Maral Matig! I am an 18 year old Armenian who is in love with culture, languages and art. I am currently in college studying Arts, Literature and Communication and I hope to do some volunteer work in Armenia in the future. As many Armenians, my last name name does not end in “ian” or “yan”, and that is because my dad is Armenian from Istanbul, Turkey, while my mom is from Cairo, Egypt. I feel very connected to my culture and I love learning about new languages, it’s one of the things that truly brings me joy.
When did you start to draw and paint ? Why did you start to draw/paint? What is important to you in the process of creating ?
I have always enjoyed doodling and drawing from life ever since I was about 5 years old. But it’s only in the past few years that I have come to an understanding of how cathartic art and drawing can be. I think it has provided me with some answers to philosophical questions. It this instance I have always had about what it means to be alive, and painting, as it is for many others, is a way for me to release pent up emotions. That is to say, I’ve struggled with my own mental health growing up, and so creating and painting has really allowed me to enter a new head space. Being confined in real life can feel fake, so exploring what I feel through art helps to keep me grounded.
In terms of your work then, the characters are so dewy and also very natural, they also seem to have a sort of neutral expression, why is that?
I don’t think I have a solid answer to why the characters I paint look somewhat sad, but the neutral expression seems to be my natural state of seeing things. When I look someone in the eyes I think there’s something beautiful about their raw state of being, without trying to ‘be’ something or someone else in that moment. So when I’m painting, I think I’m painting the way that someone’s truth makes me feel. The way I see them moving through this world enlightens and energizes me.
Wow, that’s such a beautiful interpretation of how to see the world ! I see you bring a lot of traditional Armenian objects and ideas to your work, alongside the modern and contemporary Armenia that is today. How important is Armenian heritage to you? How do you reflect it in your work?
I used to feel very distant and cold towards my Armenian-ness growing up because I disliked the idea of being an ‘other’; that seemed inferior to me. A way for me to work around this was to force myself to look at what brought me to where I am. I realized how important it is to recognize the struggles my family endured just so that I could be here living this life, and now I can’t seem to go a day without somehow incorporating Armenian language and culture into conversations. Even though I don’t particularly believe in being confined to your own ethnic identity, because I think we are all connected in the end, I do like the idea of belonging to something larger than myself. That seems to bring me comfort.
“I think there’s something beautiful about people’s raw state of being, without trying to ‘be’ something or someone else in that moment.”
Who is your inspiration? Who inspires you to create the work that you do?
There are so many things that inspire me to make art, but I have to thank Twenty One Pilots for truly making me understand the importance of creating, and how it can heal. Things change and so do interests with time, but I try not to look at it as necessarily fixed. Right now at least, I believe music and poetry have been a big part of my growth, with artists like Bei Ru, Navid Zardi, Mashrou Leila, Raveena Aurora, Mehdi Bahmad, Gökhan Türkmen and soooo many others! Above all I think what inspires me the most is the magic of connection, whether that be through music, art, or just talking to people.
What has been the biggest struggle as an artist? What would you tell your younger self?
Something I have been struggling with a lot lately is drawing the line between self-expression and sulking. While painting provides me with comfort and relief, at some points it can feel overwhelming and almost like I’m ‘in too deep’ to the point where it affects my well-being. A challenge I’d like to overcome is learning how to balance spending time alone as an ‘artist’ and deciding to spend time with others. I think I would tell my younger self (of 2 years ago haha) that being ‘Armenian’ has nothing to do with how dark/light your skin is or how you are perceived by others as an Armenian, but rather the connection you feel when taking part in the community.
Thank you so much for having a chat with me today, and to all the readers , please check out Maral’s amazing work and her Etsy where you can buy her prints. She also updates her instagram with new work and inspiration.
Walking or shall I say, pushing through the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) my entrance to the gallery was a lot more stressful than the exhibition itself. I arrived around 1pm even though my ticket was for 4pm the assistant said it was fine. Lovely let’s get too it…
The Exhibition
Cindy Sherman, for me is one of the most important and influential female artist’s of the 21st century. Her work has challenged female stereotypes and plays with the body, the subconscious and western media. Alongside her images in this exhibition her work has been featured in several formats from famous images within her photography to SFX makeup and a walk through in her studio in New York.
In Untitled A – E, 1975, a young Cindy Sherman and her strong facial expressions to create different characters of herself
Walking around the exhibition it is clearly labelled in chronological order. We first come into contact with Sherman’s early work, around the late 1970s she experiments with B&W film and makeup. I found these pieces organic, not like a free range egg, but more a baby carrot rough and bumpy, but still equally crunchy and raw (enjoy the metaphor please). I see what you did girl. Yes working with different gender identities, yes breaking gender stereotypes. A young girl moving from the suburbs to find herself in NY, I feel you. At the same time it can be seen as very art school, but hey we’ve all been there.
Moving on from her early work, the rooms take us through her diverse change in costume, appearance and play on storytelling and narrative. It is important to reiterate that although Sherman plays with these characters that may reflect her own emotions and self. Her work is something of a more broader context, taken from private and public collections the exhibition highlights that her work should be seen by all. Other critics have argued that her work is a sort of persona, the curator Paul Moorhouse explains:
“(Cindy)Interrogates the illusions presented by modern culture in such a penetrating way – or scrutinises so tellingly the façades that people adopt. Probing the elusive connection between appearance and meaning, her work explores contemporary life – and with sharp observation exposes its deceptions.”
Needless to say her work is a discussion of body image and morphing is something that caught my eye. As a woman in the art world, amongst every industry, we are forced to morphed into shapeshifters, blending or not blending in is up to us to decide. Sherman uses the idea of the male gaze as a sort of joke, the works laugh at you, smile at you, make you sad. But at the upmost they play on the facade of truth, a truth that in the western world femininity is something to be judged on the outside and the expectation women have to deal with within the everyday is still an issue.
For an artist like Cindy Sherman her work plays on gender, the idea that it is constructed by social norms is most definitely a narrative in these works as she plays on body image and of what many struggle with everyday. Yet her images are a mixture of empowerment and sadness, the rich housewives for example are contrasted with images of clowns and a naked bodysuit with a sword.
As I finish walking around the gallery the exhibition brings to mind the idea of breaking down the body. Sherman uses bits of old wig and dolls from models, to create what is in fact a ‘body’. It allows me to question the individuals ideals of image and how we have become so obsessed with our self-image, when really we are just bits attached to each other, and mobilizing are way through life. Many seem shocked and disgusted by some of the images that Sherman has presented, but in reality it is just her. The work brings out our insecurities towards the ‘disgust’ and questions our ability to work towards the idea of disgust. What is so wrong with feeling gross? Is it just how we were told? So because everyone says that a pig face is disgusting, does it mean that we have to feel that way? Of course not, but again this is another part of her work, questioning the ideals and challenging conventions of the diversity that is feminism.
I wanted to write this article to really breakdown the misconceptions of the culture we are living in today. The type of culture that is sickening and bullying, where instead of bringing each other up we are bashing peoples experiences and labelling them as ‘toxic‘ or ‘cancelled‘.
In my experience as someone who has grown up in a minority culture, bullied for looking ‘different’,’hairy’,’manly’ and ‘fat’. Writing has become a place of discovery for me, somewhere where I can really place all my experiences and share them with others who have experienced the same. With the help of my friends and really amazing, inspirational people I look up too such as Bjork (of course),Solange and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. I have been able to create a space for myself not only digitally, but within my everyday, where I am able to well and truly live my life to my own accord, avoiding negativity and hatred at all costs. However I also do believe that as someone who wants to live the life in their own accord within today’s society that it is difficult to maintain. And what I mean here is those who want to put each and every person into there own box of ideals. We have to really educate ourselves and others into what it means to respect other cultures and identities.
Let’s take this idea for example, one person who’s life has never been effected by racism and has never been singled out because of the way they look, what they eat and how they behave. How can one argue with someone who has had the heavy burden of institutional and societal racism and neglect even understand the struggle one has had to endure.
Of course they cant. But there is a way to educate oneself of other peoples cultures and traditions. It isn’t hard to ask, “what really is Diwali?” or “why do you speak Arabic?” instead of displaying ignorance and hatred. As someone who has dealt with rude remarks and racism, it is actually a positive aspect to ask someone about their culture instead of assuming without any knowledge. You wont be ‘cancelled’ for not knowing, but you will be if you are promoting hate and ignorance. We need to step back and see that not everyone is disgusting human being, some people need education and do not need to be treated like they have done anything wrong, unless they have done the worse.
It has been a journey for me and many other women to understand what it really means to be a part of a minority as well as a diaspora. And the world at this very moment in time is becoming a more dangerous place for women at the moment, with western ideals of what a women should be, wear, act and say, it is important to find a community and a voice and actually contribute to the culture and society that we call our homes. We need to support each other, no matter what your culture and identity is, education and understanding is the key to creating projects like these and conversations like these to open up a debate, and a system to progress for a better and diverse change.
I hope you enjoyed this article. Although it is a brief one, I want to bring these ideas and debates into the platform as I want to see women artists, writers and creatives to share the interpretation of these concepts.
If you want to submit an article about anything of your choice please email iveseenitalltania@gmail.com or contact at contact page!
My name is Kyla Quinlivan. I am 22 years old and I live in London finishing my degree in Psychology and I’m about to move to Manchester to do my Masters course. I started writing poetry about three years ago now to help deal with my mental health. I wrote poetry to be able to express how I was feeling at a certain time in my life. As time has passed I’ve realised more and more people were interested in my poetry because it also helped them find the words to express the ways they were feeling. Kyla has kindly shared with us two of her poems, if you enjoy her work give her a follow on instagram: @heyitskylaq
Be a Sunflower
Recently, I found my first works. Pieces of pure pain, My heart broke all over again.
Not because of their content, My heart broke for a younger me. Her pain rendered her numb and without soul, It made her wilt.
I remember when I wanted to die. When I’d get in bed, I’d never want to rise. When I’d cross a street, I’d pray for an accident.
How would I write a eulogy to my former self? Dear Ky, You don’t need to go. You need to find the sun, Turn around, Aim for the skies.
You don’t need to leave. Embrace the showers, Fight the storms, Take it all in.
There was a time Dottie needed you. A time Janet needed you, Sarah needs you now, Your clients will need you soon.
A baby with red hair. A little girl with high hopes, Your tip toe dream with wide eyes, She’ll need you when it’s time.
Something needed you then, And you’re needed now, Because you’ll be needed soon.
So here’s your backwards eulogy. Let’s send this very page to all. All of you who are saying goodbye, Say goodbye to the broken you.
Paint a picture with your tears, Sing songs of your pain, Smile.
Look to the sun, Take in the rain, Be a Sunflower.
Here’s to the Future
Here’s to our futures, To clear blue skies and full tanks of gas. To pouring rain and broken down buses, To secret kisses and bold declarations.
We are the broken souls who put ourselves back together, We made it when they said we wouldn’t. Here’s to our futures for we are the tattered and the torn, Who became vintage and classic.
Here’s to our ready made plans and spontaneous hideaways. To milkshakes and coach journeys, To video games and cheap vodka.
Here’s to our futures with our chosen family. To the next generation, With way more uncles and aunts then they’ll know how to handle.
I haven’t seen the future yet, I don’t plan to either, But what I do know is that..
Artist Mher Kafalian talks to us today about his work as a Lebanese-Armenian man. He works with several themes of female sexuality, displacement and tradition.
Hi Mher thank you so much for taking time to answer a few questions about your work. I am really interested in your collection of works as well as films and projects.Tell me a little bit about yourself, your work, where you studied and what your inspirations are.
Well, I was born in Lebanon then we moved to Armenia when I was 6 years old. It’s nice because I really believe that Armenia has a huge aspect in my creations. I didn’t go to art school, I have a diploma in Marketing but I have been always into arts and now I am sure that art is part of my life and I will continue doing it. My inspirations could be different for example the sea or sex or love or all of this together. Also, soviet architecture inspires me a lot.
I am writing to you for a women’s art space, although you are not a female artist I chose to interview you because I find some of your work centered around the female body and sexuality and social presence. What made you discover and appreciate these themes?
In Armenia we still can see discrimination between men and women. For women in Armenia, when it comes to nudity and sex it’s always shameful to show a interest in the sexuality (that’s why I am not showing the faces of my models). For me I mean it’s really absurd how guys can gather around and talk how they fucked someone and not appreciate the woman itself who is a very important figure in our society. I really want to see some positive change in the Armenian society where there is no taboo of women having sex.
Your recent work Chic, is centered around an older female protagonist (who is just fabulous). As an Armenian women I know that Armenian older women take care of themselves and look fabulous no matter what age. Could you elaborate on what you are trying to achieve with these photos?
This project I shot in Marseille, France. The women is trans. I have to say that I have not mentioned her being a trans because my objectives is not to talk about gender but to concentrate on the colors and the dresses she chooses for everyday life. Despite her age she always looks pretty and shiny and no matter how old you are you can be beautiful and confident.
What have been the most difficult parts of creating and showcasing your work?
As always the most difficult part is finding the models, most of them reject it instantly and the others would only really try and considerate being nude before saying yes or no. I think that’s why I have huge gaps between my projects.
I can see that you have taken inspiration not only from the middle east but around the world, what country has been the most interesting for you?
Visiting various countries I saw that people are mostly interested in sex and partying. So having this I combined my imagination and the reality in Armenia, I decided to create these projects.
As an artist what drives you the most when creating your work?
Since the models are nude I will do everything so they feel comfortable also I have to be full, well rested.
Have you got any future projects/exhibitions on display?
I do have future projects in my mind but now I am in Marseille till August.After that I don’t know where I will i be so it’s a bit hard to decide which project will be next. Probably I will also try to talk about Marseille and the drug life.
Thank you so much for your time !
Thank you for interest in me 🙂
If you want to check out more of Mher’s work he has instagram and his latest project.
I've seen it all 