Chiharu Shiota: Drawing Memories in the Air

Trace of Memory, The Mattress Factory, 2013 (Photo: Priyanka Sacheti)

I remember being thoroughly enchanted the first time I encountered Japanese installation and performance artist, Chiharu Shiota's work, Trace of Memory at The Mattress Factory, a contemporary art museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States. Utilising both the spatial landscape of an abandoned 19th century row house as well as specific objects such as a wedding dress, hospital bed, and a pile of suitcases, Shiota enmeshed it all in intricate black wool-thread creations. Everything was visible and yet, not; it was not unlike cobwebs studding the dusty corners of an abandoned house, simultaneously representing decay and life. In a sense, Shiota's work resurrects an otherwise dead house, creating a physically tangible web of narratives through the confluence of thread, space, and air. Perhaps, enchanted was also an appropriate word to describe my engagement with her work, for there was a fairy-tale, other-worldly quality to her work that I had never previously witnessed or experienced elsewhere. Researching further and talking with the artist herself, I discovered that the wool-thread is a signature motif of her work and through which she quite literally binds memories, past, people, and objects.

Born in Osaka, Japan, Chiharu moved to Berlin, Germany in 1997, where she studied with Marina Abramovic and Rebecca Horn, forerunners of the performance art movement; she has exhibited all over the world, presenting her installation art in both solo and group exhibitions.

What does installation art specifically mean to her? “I love empty spaces; the minute I come across one such as an abandoned building or an empty exhibition space, I feel as if my body and spirit transcend a certain dimension - and I can then start from scratch,” Chiharu says, presenting the abandoned or blank exhibition space as one void of references or associations and which she is subsequently free to re-interpret and realise her imagined worlds in. What particularly excites her about installation art is the immediacy of communication and engagement with the viewer. “[The viewers] can immediately feel as to what I am trying to show...unlike a painting or sculpture where you may have to engage with it for quite a while before distilling its meaning,” she opines.

While her work is largely rooted in the soil of her personal memories and concerned with theme of remembering and oblivion, it also sprouts and entwines itself with larger collective memories as well; one glimpses it in installations such as Dialogue from DNA in Krakow, Poland and which was subsequently recreated in Germany and Japan. Currently living and working in Germany, Chiharu reminisces about how it is linked to the time she returned to Japan three years after moving to Germany. "I wore my old shoes and experienced a curious situation; they didn't fit me any more even though they were the same size. This sense of dislocation persisted even when I was interacting with my parents and old friends. Nothing specifically had changed - and yet, I felt differently about them," she says.

The scenario made her start thinking about the gulf between the idealised memories when one is away from the home and yearning to return to it -- and actually being in home itself. "I began to interrogate the idea of missing and memories and I fused it with the idea of old shoes and the memories associated with them," she says, elaborating that the installation consisted of 400 disused shoes that people had donated along with notes containing specific memories associated with the shoe. Looking at the installation (below), it is almost as if the threads anchor the memories in form of the shoes in place, lest they vanish into nothingness and being unremembered.

Chiharu Shiota, Dialogue from DNA, (2004) Manggha, Centre of Japanese Art and Technology, Krakow, Poland, Shoes, Thread Photograph: Sunhi Mang

Chiharu has often remarked that working with thread is a bit like drawing in air. “When I began working as a painter, I felt that two-dimensional drawings were limiting me. I needed more space so I started working on installations and using thread in order to achieve a three dimensional drawing, so to speak. The threads since then have been a fundamental aspect of my work,” she says. These threads represent multiple meanings in her diverse output of work, whether of connections or ensnarement or opacity.

Apart from the threads embroidering the surface of Chiharu's installation spaces, they are also home to objects which Chiharu frequently and quite literally weaves into her works; these objects are plucked from the quotidian, facilitating both the unspooling of a narrative while crucially being a narrative in themselves. They also signify absences, absences which become the works' fundamental bedrock. "Specific objects inspire me when I experience a personal association or link with them as I did when putting on my old shoes. Abandoned objects are laden with even more memories and associations," she mentions, suggesting that this surplus of memories adds further narrative texture to her work. "The object itself has a meaning, being a signifier and then my role would be to weave its memories and meaning together using the threads."

Chiharu Shiota, During Sleep, (2004), Saint-Marie-Madeleine, Lille, France, Thread, Beds, Performers
Photographer: Sunhi Mang

While objects frequently figure as the central components of her installation works, her works are also distinctively body-oriented, as evidenced in works such as During Sleep, which features real-life women asleep on hospital beds and the space enshrouded in her customary fog of thread, bringing to forth gendered associations with the fairy-tale Sleeping Beauty.

Manal al Dowayan: Speaking the Individual and Collective Voice

I Am A Saudi Citizen, silver gelatin print (2007)

Saudi Arabian conceptual artist, Manal al Dowayan works with photography and installation to present both personal and larger narratives; whether exploring the Saudi women's experience or abstracting personal stories, her photography and installations powerfully impact the viewers, inviting them to directly access the heart of her works and contemplate their essence. Having been included in numerous international exhibitions and participated in several residences, she communicates a multi-nuanced collective voice through her singular artistic one, which is embedded in her layered photographic series or enquiring, engaging interactive works. 

 Her Blueprint spoke to Manal to find out more about her journey.

What drew you to art in the first place? What is it that continues to compel you to create?

Well, I am not a writer. I am not a poet. I cannot compose music. I also do not paint. I found myself in the medium of photography and later on, in installation art that interacted with people and spaces. 

Landscape of the Mind, mixed media on paper (2009)

How do you go about conceptualizing a project? What do you mine inspiration from: an anecdote, a dream, a conversation? Or is it a byproduct of an issue/concern that you've been feeling strongly about and meditating upon over the years and which finds its release in the form of the project? 

The art I produce is usually a direct reflection of my life and the ups and downs that exist within it. So while you may find that my main focus is the Saudi women’s experience, some collections such as Landscapes of the Mind and And We Had No Shared Dreams see me exploring more personal subjects. The basis of my works is black and white photography but I recently have begun to introduce more layers to the photograph and the ideas behind it. These layers come in different forms such as silkscreen prints, collage, spray paint, and neon and LED lights. 

Esmi: My Name, Mixed Media Large Scale Installation (2012)

You have invited women to actively participate and engage with your projects such as Esmi-My Name. How would you define their contribution to them? What do they make of it? 

Creating platforms for expression is an exercise that I have explored in several of my projects. It is intensely rewarding to see a large gathering of women of different ages and backgrounds coming together for the purpose of artistic expression and making a collective social statement using culture as their medium of exchange. My participatory art projects have evolved organically from early days when I used to photograph my friends; this process later became the foundation for collective projects in which I invited hundreds of women to collaborate with me. In the participatory art works, Suspended Together and Esmi (My Name) I was searching for the group voice within my community while creating a platform for women to voice their opinion alongside my own. I have always found strength in the collective voice. The participants were also using social media to proudly share their participation, eventually encouraging women from around the world to virtually participate. I was energized by having a group of individuals interact with the artwork and contribute to the concept behind the work through their participation. 

During the Esmi (My Name) project, many participants stayed on in the workshop room until we had turned off the lights and were closing the doors as they wanted the experience to last for as long as possible. The energy in these gatherings was profound and is very difficult to put into words. 

Tree of Guardians (2013)

Moving to specific projects, could you please elaborate about the story behind Tree of Guardians?

My constant questioning of the state of disappearance led me to its counterbalance: the necessary act of preservation. In my previous works, I have explored the issues of preservation of a woman’s name (Esmi), incursions and limitation on the autonomy she traditionally enjoyed (Suspended Together), and the juxtaposition of her conventional representation in Arab society and the reality of her current professional identity and personal potential (I Am). In its fullest sense, however, the act of preservation must transcend the identity of the single, identifiable individual and encompass previous generations of unnamed and sometimes forgotten women that serve as the cultural and social roots for the hopes, dreams and aspirations of today’s women. Therefore, this sculptural installation is both a marker of the individual women that are named on the leaves and captured in the oral histories and a celebration of the many generations of unnamed women who served as the protectors and messengers of authenticity. Suspended Together is a powerful installation that gives the impression of movement and freedom. However, a closer look at the 200 doves allows the viewer to realize that the doves are actually frozen and suspended with no hope of flight. If you examine it even more minutely, it shows that each dove carries on its body a permission document that allows a Saudi woman to travel. Notwithstanding their circumstances, all Saudi women are required to have this document, issued by their appointed male guardian. 

How did you migrate into installation from photography? What was the experience of working on this installation and its overall impact?

Suspended Together is a large installation that was a culmination of multiple years working on the same subject. The dove made its first appearance in my artwork in 2009’s Landscapes of the Mind. Later, I captured them in flight around pieces made for And We Had No Shared Dreams collection in 2010. In Edge of Arabia: TERMINAL I, launched a three-dimensional dove. In all of these artworks, the doves symbolize the issue of movement and imposed guardianship on women in Saudi Arabia. All women in my country need a permission document to be issued by an appointed guardian when she needs to travel so I located this document upon the body of the doves. I asked many leading women from Saudi Arabia (scientists, educators, engineers, and artists) to donate their permission document to this project and the result was a flock of doves that appear to be in-flight but in reality they were suspended and not moving. This installation was a new experience for me and allowed me to explore a new, alternative way of expressing myself. Although the photograph remains the basis of my work, I enjoy experimenting with interesting mediums and techniques and enlarging the scope of my creative expression through installation. The State of Disappearance juxtaposes the ideas of preservation/disappearance and representation of Saudi women. 

Unheard Sounds, archival photo paper on dibond with plexiglass lettering (2013)

When you make statements about gender through your projects, do you feel that you are radically pushing the envelope? What has been the response to your art in Saudi Arabia, as in terms of general feedback and more specifically,  gendered responses? 

Generally speaking, I don't observe or wait for the viewer's response. I start a conversation with my artwork and then walk out of the room, so to speak. 

The notion of documenting the past and also, being mindful of appreciating how the past was constructed is obviously very important to you, as we can see in projects such as If I Forget You, Don't Forget Me. What significance does the project hold both in terms of a personal and larger national narrative? 

The project was dedicated to the documentation of my late father's memory through the collective memory of his peers, both men and women. The project therefore holds huge emotional and sentimental significance to me. It was a very personal journey and the only link to the national narrative was that my father's generation was finally documented. 

Find out more about Manal al Dowayan's work here.

Images courtesy Manal al Dowayan and Cuadro Fine Art Gallery.

In Conversation with Ana Álvarez-Errecalde

Q: Blood and nudity seem to be a leitmotif of your work. Why? And what is your relation with them? 


A: I have created many artworks that deal with nudity but only a few that include blood. Many things motivate the direction of my work. I am interested in the vital cycles and the passage of time. I am interested in the body as an intimate territory: a map of registered memories that are not always in line with what religion, science and socioeconomic interests have led us to believe. How I relate to nudity and blood is a mirror of my fascination with life. I am accepting of my changing body, amazed with how my children grow and intrigued by the aging process. I have enjoyed my pregnancies and have had joyful, intense home births. The blood and nudity seen within the context of my artwork is linked to authenticity and undiluted sensuality.

Q: Identity is a repetitive theme in your work. Has identity become so important since you are an Argentinian living in Europe? Is it a need to find and define (or re-define) yourself? 

A: 
I have lived half of my life away from my family and country of origin as an immigrant on two continents. These experiences have influenced my interest in Identity. In other projects, I do not focus so much on nationality as an identifying factor but in those experiences that we live that permeate us and determine the way we see the world.

Q: Female nudity… Is it a sort of re-appropriation of the female figure?
A: Yes. In my artwork I intend to go beyond the physical and aesthetic re-appropriation. My intention when photographing female nudity is also to re-vindicate the right to openly share experiences and add to the collective imagery. Love and sex among the elderly, orgasmic births, scars that leave testimony of a survived experience, all these have something to contribute to our common reality.

Q: It is obvious to me to link Canova’s Le Tre Grazie with your Tres Gracias Sangrantes. What does it mean for you to take a tradition and use it? Is this just an endorsement or are you doing something else with it? 

A: Tres Gracias Sangrantes was conceived as a parody to Canova´s Le Tre Grazie which are supposed to represent beauty, charm and joy and preceded banquets for the mere purpose of delighting the guests of the gods. Raphael created a chaste version of the piece and Rubens painted the Graces in a voluptuous and exuberant way. I wanted to add an irreverent image to the vast voyeuristic and salacious representations in Art.

The advertising industry tries to convince us that women´s blood is blue, that menstrual cycles stink, that menstrual pain is normal and should be medically numbed, and that mood swings are part of a syndrome (PMS) which is treatable by a huge range of pharmaceutical solutions. External control over women´s physiology and psychology reach debates about abortion legality and illegality, backs up the endless interventions on pregnancy and birth which ends up in an incredibly high rate on C-sections in most of the developed countries. 
The external manipulation of women´s hormones sometimes starts in the beginning of adolescence.
 The devalorization of old age sends more and more women in an anguished and frustrating search for eternal youth.
 In Three Bleeding Graces I give visibility to blood in order to denounce the devitalization, domestication and exploitation of this process that negates women.

Q: Is HISTOLOGÍAS a metaphor for the lack of empathy toward others?
A: HISTOLOGIAS proposes getting into someone else´s skin and alludes to the complexity of this act. I present the skin as a canvas which is both influenced by the life that marks us from the outside (aging, illness, aesthetic, etc.) as well as the marks that come from the inside (the subconscious that overflows, explodes and stains).
 There are moments in life when it becomes almost unbearable to fit inside the boundaries that conform who we are, those are the moments when we are able to grow emotionally and expand our limits.

               

Q: ALQUIMIA seems a spiritual work where the absence becomes presence. Would you tell me more about this work?
A: I created this series of photographs and sculptures soon after the death of my sister Bany. We were very alike and very close. We would laugh at the same things, we had the same smile. When she passed away unexpectedly from cancer I could not accept that she was gone. I was searching to be with her in a tangible way as an intent of transcending her absence. I brought her back into my life by creating this collaborative work. I based the artwork on her poetry, which I even embroidered on the dresses that I used for the series.


Jenny Saville : A Painter of Modern Life

“… She is a divinity, a star, which presides at all the conceptions of the brain of man; a glittering conglomeration of all the graces of Nature, condensed into a single being; the object of the keenest admiration and curiosity that the picture of life can offer its contemplator. She is not, I must admit, an animal whose component parts, correctly assembled, provide a perfect example of harmony; she is not even that type of pure beauty which the sculptor can mentally evoke in the course of his sternest meditations; no, this would still not be sufficient to explain her mysterious and complex spell.”[1] 

This is Baudelaire's description of women in his essay, The painter of modern life, which is how Jenny Saville, "a painter of modern life," defines herself. But on the contrary, Saville's women are not sensual, they do not embody the classical contemporary western beauty, they are not like plastic dolls that society wants to inculcate as a symbol of perfection; Saville's women are fat, the subjects are represented as crude, they are true, they are dismissed, you can feel the flesh, you are not dispensed by their impudence. Saville broke with the traditional aesthetic norms of legibility and corporality. Born in Cambridge in 1970, she is a contemporary British painter, associated with the Young British Artist. 

Saville's paintings are often compared with the work of Lucian Freud (1922-2011), most probably for the same crude way of depicting the average female form.

Although Saville admits the comparison with Freud, her greatest impacts are Francis Bacon and Willem de Kooning, and she has said the "marriage of Bacon’s figurative skills and de Kooning’s painting skills would make the best painter who ever lived." [2]

She is one of the few contemporary artists using the classic technique of making art: painting. Although some contemporary critics may define her works démodé, that, indeed, makes her a special artist. Her passion for art and desire of being a painter have fluttered inside her since she was born. Saville won a six-month scholarship at the University of Cincinnati,  where she states she became "interested in the malls, where you saw lots of big women. Big white flesh in shorts and T-shirts. It was good to see, because they had the physicality that I was interested in. "[3] She became very well known when Charles Saatchi 'discovered' and supported her, proposing she paint 18 canvases that would be subsequently exhibited in his gallery.

Her large-scale paintings are so impacting, the bodies so big that sometimes they seem that even the canvas isn't enough to contain them. Saville plays with the role of women, with their bodies, with their femininity. Despite the fatness, her women are attractive, one can almost smell the fragrance of their flesh, one can be totally immersed in this world in which beauty is not a matter of weight.

“Plan” 1993, Oil on Canvas, 274.5 x 213.5 cm.
The Saatchi Collection, London

Saville moved to New York in 1994, where she was able to sit in and observe the work of the plastic surgeon Dr. Barry Martin Weintraub. Looking at these cosmetic surgery and liposuctions allowed her to gain a better understanding of the human body and the various manipulations that can be made through modern medicine.

As a result of this observation-study, Saville creates a painting such as “Plan,” in which she draws the sign of liposuction (from ancient Greek, lipos = fat) on the body of yet another obese woman portrayed in her paintings. 

But why is Saville so interested in fatness? What does she want to demonstrate transfiguring and exaggerating the female body? Can her work be considered a provocation to the canon of western beauty?

Liberia's Powerful Peace Warrior - Leymah Gbowee

Image Credit: aktivioslo 

Organisations like the UN do a lot of good, but there are certain basic realities they never seem to grasp …Maybe the most important truth that eludes these organisations is that it's insulting when outsiders come in and tell a traumatised people what it will take for them to heal. You cannot go to another country and make a plan for it. The cultural context is so different from what you know that you will not understand much of what you see. I would never come to the US and claim to understand much of what you see. I would never come to the US and claim to understand what's going on, even in the African American culture. People who have lived through a terrible conflict may be hungry and desperate, but they are not stupid. They often have very good ideas about how peace can evolve, and they need to be asked. That includes women. Most especially women … To outsiders like the UN, these soldiers were a problem to be managed. But they were our children." -- Leymah Gbowee, Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer and Sex Changed a Nation at War

Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee is truly a force to be reckon with. She is credited with leading a peaceful campaign by mobilizing women from across Liberia of various religious and ethnic backgrounds to bring an end to Liberia's fourteen year civil war and ex-President Charles Taylor's rule.

I found this article from two years ago in Inter Press Service that had this to say about the situation of young women in Liberia:

Despite the 2005 election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first female president, and the introduction of free and compulsory primary education, many young girls in this post-conflict West African nation continue to drop out of school to cook and clean for their family, or earn a meagre living selling food or fresh water on the streets. They face discrimination, sexual violence, family pressures, early pregnancy, forced marriage, and harmful traditional practices. Three out of five Liberian women can't read.

If you get a chance, do take a minute to check out the full article. In my opinion, it plays down the reality of how foreign aid strangles the ability of developing countries to manifest their destiny and gives credit to the UN. I also think that the quote that I led this post off with by Gbowee offers a brilliant response to an article such as this.

Today, while deciding what to write for Her Blueprint, I discovered this compelling talk by Gbowee that I want to share with you.

Here's an excerpt:

Several years ago, there was one African girl. This girl had a son who wished for a piece of doughnut because he was extremely hungry. Angry, frustrated, really upset about the state of her society and the state of her children, this young girl started a movement, a movement of ordinary women banding together to build peace. I will fulfill this wish. This is another African girl's wish. I failed to fulfill the wish of those two girls. I failed to do this. These were the things that were going through the head of this other younger woman - I failed, I failed, I failed. So I will do this. Women came out, protested a brutal dictator, fearlessly spoke. Not only did the wish of a piece of doughnut come true, the wish of peace came true. This young woman wished also to go to school. She went to school. This young woman wished for other things to happen, it happened for her. 

Today, this young woman is me, a Nobel laureate. I'm now on a journey to fulfill the wish, in my tiny capacity, of little African girls - the wish of being educated.

You can visit Gbowee's website to learn more about her book and documentary, which explores more of her amazing journey.

Women and the Western Sahara

United Nations Photo

After decades of inhumane treatment under Moroccan rule, the indigenous Saharawi people continue to demand their independence.

Numerous demonstrations denouncing occupation of the Western Sahara by Morocco since 1975 has resulted in widespread discrimination and police brutality.

Last month, several dozen Saharawi activists were injured after a police crackdown outside the office of the ruling Justice and Development Party where protestors gathered to voice outrage over the postponement of a verdict on the continued detention of Saharawi people in the notorious Sale prison.

History of the Western Sahara

The Western Sahara is a disputed territory in North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.

Despite recognition of the Saharawis’ right to self-determination by the International Court of Justice at end of Spain’s colonial rule, the 1975 Madrid Agreement handed over two thirds of land in Western Sahara to Morocco and one third to Mauritania.

Following a 1978 peace accord, Mauritania relinquished areas under their control. However, Morocco seized the opportunity to control the entire Western Sahara. As a result, tens of thousands of Saharawis have been displaced from their lands and their struggle represents one of the world’s longest-running conflicts.

Saharawi Women

Women have a played a key role in traditional Saharawi culture and in resisting foreign occupation. Traditionally, Saharawi women could inherit property and could subsist independently of their husbands, fathers, and brothers. They were also valued by Saharawi tribes, had great personal freedoms, and were active participants in major tribal decisions.

Women Koranic teachers, traditional healers, marabouts (mystic holy leaders), and scholars are an integral part of the Saharawi oral heritage.

Over the course of thirty-three years in their fight for the liberation of Africa's last colony, Saharawi women have played a major role in the struggle for the Western Sahara by developing various skills, ranging from education to military as well as obtaining power in the social and political life.

Western Sahara and the Arab Spring

Every day languages, traditions and cultures are being lost. In an effort to share the social and humanitarian challenges facing Saharawi women living under occupation, I initiated a project called Barakah Bashad. The aim of the project is to bring the voices of Saharawi women and others to a global audience. The best part? I will be blogging the journey here on Her Blueprint.

There's only 15 days left. Help make this project happen by donating today!

I would like to leave you with this interesting short documentary about what young Saharawi women think about gender equality.

Domestic Workers Find their Own Means of Empowerment

Chandrani speaking at a Taste Culture event

In the Middle East, where widespread abuse of female migrant domestic workers is commonplace, Jordan positioned itself as leader in protecting workers rights when it introduced laws in 2008 that called for regulated hours, a day off and criminalisation of human trafficking.

However, a recent report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch and Jordan's Tamkeen Centre for Legal Aid cites complaints of physical and sexual abuse, house confinement, non-payment of salaries and long working hours.

According to the 110-page report, failure on the part of Jordanian officials to enforce labour laws put in place to protect female migrants are in fact 'facilitating abuse'.

Currently, more than 70,000 female migrant domestic workers from Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines are employed in the kingdom.

Pushed by a need to support their families, female migrant domestic workers leave their countries, children and lives to care for another household.

The issue of migrant domestic work is a personal issue for me. More than fifteen years ago while living on the streets in the United States and without any legal identification, I turned to cleaning houses as a means of supporting myself. When I lived in the home, I usually slept on the sofa and worked all the day without receiving a single pay. For these individuals, providing me with a place to sleep was sufficient enough. At times, I was subjected to verbal abuse and even sometimes molestation. Eventually, I would run away and end up on the streets once more.

Five years ago, when I arrived in the Middle East from New York it was not my intention to highlight the plight of these women. However, my treatment in Lebanon--when I was viewed as a servant whenever I walked the streets, or sleeping on the sofa in the home of three fellow foreigners, cooking and cleaning in exchange for board--triggered something in me.

Ellen Gallagher: An Ad for the Unspoken

Ellen Gallagher is an American-born, contemporary multimedia artist that speaks about our inner thoughts and the obscured details that push the less palatable down. Gallagher's works confront what we all eventually face: deep, nagging insecurity, broad and unknown danger around the corner, and disappointing interpersonal moments. A person's art work most certainly speaks about what they have decided to look at and, finally, let surface.

This past week, a humbling and insightful discussion led me to consider the process of repression. As an individual, what subject bothers me enough to work through it in visual form? Can I explain it? Does it have to wholly bother me or is there a space somewhere between curiosity and shame that elicits artistic response?

Gallagher's answer would be yes, and she would display her own self through her striking collaged imagery. The origins of Gallagher's works is highly accessible--they are what some might consider instructional "aids" to looking your best. Wig ads especially stand out to Gallagher, and she speaks about how she aims to "activate" characters in her painted, repeated figures. She also refers to our early imaginations of what it was to "be" a certain way, and how sometimes as adults, we (as artists and/or in our daily lives) can manage these recollections and create alternate narratives. Following are clips that exemplify her elegant and astute approach to visual culture.

I enjoy looking at a work of art that doesn't attempt to do it all at once--surely, the topic of sexuality, beauty, or race can overwhelm an artist with the best intentions. It can be rooted in the fear of being misread, too. Sometimes, when making art, a person can just hold back and work on something else that satiates their basic desire to speak but does not speak enough.

To relax, and to meditate upon the lines, the color, the balance--can be a calming exercise as good as a vibrant conversation. To view Gallagher's work is to acknowledge an artist's goal to examine an industry that was considered necessary and that required iconography of its own. Systems of iconography are created and recreated each day. What an important reminder for anyone who is unsure of where to begin in the seemingly endless maze that is the 21st century visual landscape. Perhaps it might help to just begin a conversation about these anxieties, and take it from there?

If you enjoy Gallagher, check out Kara Walker, whose bold silhouettes recreate the largely shameful history of the depiction of black women and men in American history. These two artists are just two of the many women who have sat down and considered the lack of sympathetic, realistic, and heroic imagery for women of color.

Recently, I began a list of stereotypes or hurtful images that I could recall about Mexican culture or Latinas. Immigration sprang up immediately, and was followed by the ever-present maid figure in pop culture. There was a lot to think about. I researched Latina artists working today, and could not find many at all--this is a space that also needs to be occupied and engaged by young or mature artists as well. Besides Ana Medieta, Isis Rodriguez, and Frida Kahlo, there is a similar lack of visibility for Latinas.

Again, acknowledgment and response sometimes feels like a tall order--and the fear of reinforcing negative stereotypes persists--but pushing these highly reflexive cultural details down would be a tragedy. Check out Walker's discussion about the occasional doubts in her own creative process:

If you are intrigued by Kara's work, read Seeing the Unspeakable: The Art of Kara Walker by Gwendolyn Dubois Shaw.

Zar: Women’s Medicine, Tradition and Rituals

Traditionally, religion has been one of the most powerful sources of both vision and values. Every religion, particularly indigenous, has evoked a new vision for society, aided in advancing the collective consciousness, and inspired both personal and institutional transformation. It has also been a source of division and social fragmentation. However, in indigenous spiritual practices, like the Zar, we find that women play a key role as leaders of ritual, keepers of the earth, and healers.

In parts of the Arab world, women diagnosed with acute cases of depression are, believed to be, possessed by the jinn. This depression or low spirit emphasizes an individuals inability to withstand psychological disorders usually brought about by deprivation, poverty, and hardship. Despite religious opposition, many women resort to the underground female healing ceremonies of the Zar, where a ritual-dance accompanied by music are conducted to appease or elevate these spirits or invoke their therapeutic capabilities.

MIDDLE EAST: Rape is Never Part of the Contract

If you visited the Middle East, you'd no doubt notice that migrant domestic workers--who represent a vulnerable group, whose rights are often ignored, in contravention to international conventions and standards--are incredibly prevalent.

Mainly from Asia and Africa, they comprise nearly 1.5 million of the workforce in Saudi Arabia, 660,000 in Kuwait and more than 200,000 in Lebanon. With hopes of escaping poverty or conflict in their home countries, many travel under false pretense and find themselves hungry, subjected to poor working conditions, unpaid salaries, abuse and conditions akin to slavery.

In response to widespread abuse and mounting reports of withheld salaries, several labour sending countries issued bans restricting female migrants from seeking employment abroad due to the alarming rise in the number of suicides. However, this has only made them more susceptible to traffickers and employment agencies working the black market.

According to the International Labour Union, there are more than 22 million migrant workers--a third of whom are women--currently in the Middle East. Currently the ILO is advocating the drafting of specific labour legislation for domestic workers that extends legal protection in a systematic and comprehensive manner.

Originally from Madagascar, Dima 19, escaped from her employer after being sexually abused several times. She tells her story to Her Blueprint:

"I come from a poor family in Madagascar and before leaving I was told that I would find good employment in Lebanon, and that my situation and that of my family would improve. I wasn’t happy to leave my country and my family but I needed to change our situation so I agreed to take the employment.

The male employer picked me up from the airport and when we arrived to the home he told me to take a bath. He insisted that I leave the door slightly open but I felt uncomfortable about it and pleaded that I close the door but he kept insisting that it was for my own safety just in case something were to happen. So finally I agreed and while I was in the bath he entered and raped me.

While it was happening he kept saying how he had never been with a Black woman and wanted to have a taste. For me, it was humiliating, and I felt empty inside. Afterwards, I was told to get dressed and take care of my household duties, as if nothing had happened. I felt trapped and had no one to help me. When I was able to speak with my family I had to tell them that everything was okay because it would kill them to know that I was suffering.

Some time passed and nothing happened but then one day the Madame said that she was going out and that I should stay but I insisted on not being left in the house with him. Always I tried to make sure I was never left alone with him but she gave me no choice and it happened again. Except this time, he spread my legs apart and tied my hands and legs to the bed and repeatedly raped me. Then he invited two male friends over and they also took turns raping me.

Afterward, I was destroyed and could only think about how I could get away because I couldn’t bear living like this anymore. Luckily I had met another Madagascan woman in the street and she told me the number of the community leader and that if I had any problems, she would help me. So almost a month later, while the family was getting into the car I started running as fast as I could so that they didn’t catch me. Eventually I managed to get far enough that I stopped and went to a pay phone and called the number and the woman told me to take a taxi to the consulate and that they would pay for it once I arrived.

I was told at the consulate that they could help me find new employment but all I wanted to do was leave because maybe I would have the same problems with a new employer and I didn’t want to take the chance. I just wanted to be with my family. I would prefer to live in poverty than to continue suffering in this way."

Cases like Dima are all too common in a labour sector where abuses remain invisible because these women suffer in places that are hidden to the public's eye such as in private homes.

Passport confiscation and the Kafala or sponsorship system, which binds migrant domestic workers to a specific employer excludes them from protection and left in the hands of individuals who have complete control over their lives.

Recently, the ILO set up a website with the aim of promoting decent work for domestic workers and supporting initiatives worldwide by sharing information related to working and living conditions of domestic workers, policy issues and challenges in domestic work, country experiences and knowledge, and practical tools on how decent work may be advanced in domestic work.

Arab Women Challenge Western Media

CAIRO May 18, 2011 (Her Blueprint) – Though demonstrating, taking risks, mobilizing, suffering and standing side by side with men in the uprisings sweeping the Middle East and North Africa, Arab women are also challenging the Western media to acknowledge their voice.

From Tunisia, to Egypt, to Yemen and Morocco, women have been at the forefront of the Arab Spring revolutions.

Yemeni women, who represent a third of the thousands of anti-government protestors demanding an end to Ali Abdullah Saleh’s thirty-year rule, are shattering traditions that go back centuries.

“I myself came from a conservative family but my grandmother used to have more freedom in the way that she dressed, talked and dealt with men than I have now,” said Samia al-Haddad, Program and Human Rights Officer for the Yemeni Organization for Development and Rehabilitation in an interview with Her Blueprint.

According to al-Haddad, women’s rights became stifled after the 80’s.

“If you see the footage and the video coming from Yemen and you will see all women veiled in black and this was not the image of women in the 80’s before the expansion of Salafists and Wahabi movements came from Saudi Arabia.”

Hibaaq Osman from Somalia is the CEO and Founder of Karama. She says that the Western media was shocked to see women out on the streets, raising their voices, protesting for democracy and walking side by side with men for a unified cause – political reform and equal rights.

“You have to understand the psychology of the Western media. They want to see a weak, meek and covered woman,” Osman told Her Blueprint.

According to Osman, it’s about time that the West take a good look at themselves before pointing the finger.

Feminization of Poverty

Madagascan female migrants enjoy a rare day off. Beirut, Lebanon

Soaring food prices coupled with massive land grabs have widened the gender gap between those trapped in poverty, resulting in the feminization of poverty. Women who constitute the majority of the world's poor face greater risks during times of global crisis forcing many to migrate out.

"In terms of the number of people going hungry today, more than 60% are women and girls and the situation of global hunger always has a gender characteristic to it. That means that the most vulnerable people in society are always going to be in the front line," journalist, activist and former policy analyst with the advocacy group Food First, Raj Patel told Her Blueprint.

"When there are already burdens of caring for the elderly, kids, the sick, carrying water and locating fuel coupled with the costs of finding food at higher costs with less money to go around and increased demands to find sources of income, women are structurally in a much harder position to make ends meet."

Right now, the global population is struggling to feed itself, with more than 800 million people lacking adequate food; 1.3 billion living on less than $1 per day and world population figures expected to reach 9 billion by 2050.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) predicts the pace of food inflation has surpassed 2008 levels and will rise another four percent this year. Basically if you are poor, now is a particularly precarious time with a twenty-five percent jump in global food costs in 2010 and most countries shelling out nearly $1 trillion on imports in comparison to a twenty percent spike for poorer nations in 2009.

However, women -- who have less access to food, water, health care, land ownership, basic rights, and education to better their living conditions -- are more vulnerable before any global crisis due to their status before disaster hits.

Recent statistics indicate that women account for seventy percent of the world's poor. They work two-thirds of the world's working hours, but earn only ten percent of the income and own one percent of the world's property.

During the 1960's, women accounted for nearly forty-five percent of the total migration -- mainly for reunification purposes with their spouses who were already employed abroad. Today, the global financial crisis has forced millions in developing countries into poverty. Resulting in the share of women migrating for employment to increase from 35.3 million in 1960 to 94.5 million in 2005.

Massive land grabs in some African countries, forcing those that would be growing food to feed their families off their lands and into urban areas that are unable to sustain them economically, has resulted in large numbers of migrants getting onto rickety boats and risking their lives to try and migrate out.

“Many people in Madagascar are living in poverty,” said Aimee, who is a self-proclaimed social worker in Lebanon, in an interview with Her Blueprint. “Every day applications are being processed for female migrants seeking work abroad.”

The beauty of migration is that, at the household level, it allows for the individual transaction of remittances because earnings go back to the people who need it the most -- the family.

Stable economies like Libya were a hub for migrant from African countries, Emira Woods, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies based in Washington told Her Blueprint. Migrants headed out because they were unable to withstand the global recession, climate change huge increases in food prices and staple goods back home.

“Remittances are this sleeping giant in terms of development finance that has awakened. They create a financial tie between people and their communities by helping to build clinics, schools, roads and other infrastructure development projects,” says Woods.

“There are some efforts to harness more the strategic resources from remittances, which have created a space for governments to act independent of external actors like the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund (IMF) whose interest and loan conditions have failed to serve the needs of Africa.”

According to a World Economic Forum report titled, 'The Global Gender Gap Report 2009,' there is no country where women and men existed equally and concluded that systematic gender discrimination in developing countries must be halted in order for significant economic recovery and growth to occur.

Creating labour policies that protect female migrants and empowering women in their home countries by harnessing the power of remittances to provide decent work will not only fuel economies but lead the world on a path to eradicating poverty and hunger.

J. Crew, Jenna Lyons, and the Pink Toenail Polish Controversy

J. Crew President and Creative Director Jenna Lyons. Image via Style File Blog

If you’re a fan of all things J. Crew like I am, you’re probably already familiar with the name Jenna Lyons. The J. Crew President and Executive Creative Director is the ever-visible face of the classic American clothing brand. She has been a guest on Oprah, and if you’re on J. Crew's email list, you’ve probably received Jenna’s Picks, a newsletter featuring items hand-picked by the “Commander-In-Chic” herself. Lyons goes the extra mile to put a personal touch on what goes out to the shopping public, and with our endlessly stylish First Lady Michelle Obama a J. Crew devotee, many would say she’s doing a pretty good job. Jenna openly shares her own wardrobe choices for inspiration, so shoppers can get some creative ideas of their own.

Spread from J. Crew's Spring 2011 catalog

A recent J. Crew catalog spread called Saturday With Jenna featured Lyons and her son Beckett engaged in some weekend bonding time. Mother and son gaze adoringly at one another, as she holds Beckett’s tiny feet which are (gasp!) adorned with pink toenail polish. The accompanying text reads, “Lucky for me, I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink. Toenail painting is way more fun in neon.”

Let the media firestorm begin.

Gender Coding via Drag in Art History

Last weekend, I spent a night watching some of the most charismatic performances in the great city of San Francisco. It was a drag show at Aunt Charlie's, and the range of personas was an intriguing reminder about everyday performances. Thanks for that insight in grad school, Judith Butler -- the reality of gender as performance arises more often than I had imagined before learning about gender theory!

The first artist that springs to mind is Cindy Sherman, a celebrated American photographer who has maintained herself as both creator and subject in her large body of work. Here's one of the more well-known images, called Untitled (1981).

Image courtesy of Metro Pictures

Wal-Mart “Too Big to Sue” in Gender Discrimination Case?

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court considered the legitimacy of Dukes v Wal-Mart, a massive class action lawsuit filed on behalf of 1.5 American million women that accuses Wal-Mart LLC of denying equal pay and equal access to career advancement. The prosecutors are seeking a stop to its alleged discriminatory practices, as well as back pay and punitive damages that could cost Wal-Mart over one billion dollars.

At issue was not whether the plaintiffs, with individual cases dating back to 1998, even have a case. Instances of women earning roughly 77% of what their male peers earned are common; women who qualified for raises but were passed over by their male counterparts with less experience seem to have been the norm for more than a decade. Instead, the “highest court in the land” heard the defense question whether or not millions of women could be included in one single class action suit. Lawyers for Wal-Mart claimed that they could not form an effective defense against the millions of individual cases and that there was no common injury.

The question that Wal-Mart posed, eerily reminiscent of the one made by big banks at the height of the economic meltdown, was: “Aren’t we too big to fail sue?”

It makes sense that Wal-Mart would take this tactic. After all, they’re in good company: several corporations and business groups, threatened by the precedent that Dukes could set for large-scale class action suits, have filed friend-of-the-court briefs siding with Wal-Mart. It seems the largest retailer in the world, whose sales hit $405 billion last year, feels that it, too, is “too big to fail.”

But the six plaintiffs who represent the millions of women are making their claim under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. They argue that “the policies and practices underlying this discriminatory treatment are consistent throughout Wal-Mart.” And each incident of discrimination, if taken to court separately, could pit the largest private employer in the world against one single woman at a time.

Let me repeat that again: one woman against the largest employer in the world.

The question that I would ask the Supreme Court justices, then, who reportedly sided with the corporate behemoth, would be: if corporations have the rights of personhood, as they were recently granted, why can’t individual persons have the same rights as corporations to consolidate their legal claims?

If Wal-Mart LLC, which serves 41 regions, 400 districts, and 3,400 stores housing one million workers in the U.S. alone, is allowed to take each woman to court individually, it will set a precedent not just for the rights of women, but for all individuals. Common law will dictate that corporations and their armies of attorneys will have the same access to justice as individuals with a mere fraction of their money and resources. In a world like that, will there ever be a fair fight?

GENDER: Feminization of Migration

Women, who constitute nearly fifty percent of global migration, represent an economic resource in many poor countries, making them the main export commodity. However, key United Nations (UN) policies on human trafficking continue to overlook migrant domestic workers in the Middle East.

Domestic care has become a key feature in the socio-economic fabric of developing countries such as Sri Lanka, eager to alleviate an 18.9 percent youth unemployment rate and lessen possible social unrest, which is lately common in many Arab countries. Dependence on the remittances of nearly 130,000 Sri Lankan women migrating to the Middle East yearly as domestic workers has been welcomed by officials who see this lucrative labour market as a key contributor to economic stability. Indeed, last year, Sri Lankan migrant workers sent nearly 289.8 million in remittances with a record growth of 12.3 percent from 2009.

“The private remittances of Sri Lankan migrants have significantly augmented our foreign currency reserves and the national income. It’s estimated that private remittances this year, 2010 will amount to approximately US $4 billion,” says Sri Lanka’s UN ambassador Dr. Palitha Kohona speaking at a general assembly session last November discussing international migration and development. “Sri Lanka is on the verge of rapid economic take off following the decisive conclusion of a three decade long conflict with the terrorist LTTE. The government is making large investments in infrastructure and developing productive assets so that Sri Lanka’s strengths will be optimized in this post-conflict scenario. We have taken many measures on migration management to ensure that migration becomes a key contributor to national development.”

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), Sri Lankan female migrant domestic workers, who accounted for nearly sixty-two percent of private remittances, contributed to increasing foreign currency reserves, reducing devaluation of the Sri Lankan rupee and the repayment of foreign debts like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

“The Sri Lankan government gets a good profit from us; they must take care of us. They must do more to protect us,” Chandrani, a domestic worker and community leader in Lebanon said in an interview with Her Blueprint. “I became very involved in assisting Sri Lankan women and started speaking to many newspapers about the situation and criticized the Sri Lankan embassy for doing nothing to protect their nationals. As a result, the embassy had me detained and after I was released they made sure I could no longer visit the prisons.”

Despite calls by Sri Lankan officials to halt the large numbers of women migrating to the Middle East due to the growing number of complaints of abuse, the Sri Lankan government had been quite content to allow legal and illegal migration to continue.

Human trafficking

Governments are not the only one’s turning a blind eye. Current UN policies on human trafficking are also failing to assist the thousands of women migrating to the Middle East for domestic work.

According to the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, illegal and legal recruitment agencies in countries like Sri Lanka would technically be described as traffickers. Thousands of domestic workers who are deceived by labour agents and find themselves in forced labour, debt bondage and conditions akin to slavery, which most women encounter upon arrival, would in essence be victims of human trafficking.

However, the stereotypical image of the trafficked victim and the UN’s focus on sex workers leaves many female migrants to fend for themselves. Not only does UN negate male migrants who are tricked into foreign employment but it also ignores that trafficking is in itself a form of abuse and that women are being forced to migrate globally to fulfill developing countries financial needs legally.

“Trafficking victims come to Lebanon legally. For instance, sex workers from Eastern Europe or other Arab countries enter under artists’ visas. It’s like a work permit that’s valid for one month and renewable for up to six months. A recruiter solicits them in their home country and they’re not allowed to change employers, which is a lot like the sponsorship system with domestic workers,” Ghada Jabbour, Gender and Trafficking specialist at KAFA (Enough) Violence and Exploitation told Her Blueprint.

“Domestic workers and sex workers are being used in a system that is set up to work against their rights as workers or human beings,” adds Jabbour.

Arab Women Seize the Time

While the world watches the awakening in the Arab world as millions demand democratic freedoms, Egyptian women also took the opportunity to seize the moment and rise up by calling for a civil state and a constitution that eliminates all forms of discrimination against women.

“It's time for a new way of thinking, democracy is just a gate to more gains for women,” says Abeer, a 25-year-old Egyptian woman.

United in popular revolt, calling for an end to injustice, lack of freedoms, corruption and unending poverty. Egyptians took to the streets demanding the ousting of their long time dictator. Although women played a vital role in the country’s eighteen-day uprising, full progress towards social, economic and political rights remains a challenge.

“I think yesterday was a good alarm for everyone that we need social mobilization and explain that women’s rights is not a Western agenda and that women’s rights are human rights and we need to engage the people in this discussion,” says Doaa Abdelaal, a council member with Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML). “You can’t talk about democratic rights without talking about women’s rights.”

Tuesday, the centennial of International Women's Day, marked an historical moment in the history of Egypt’s women’s movement. Under Mubarak’s thirty-year regime obtaining permits from the state security to gather groups of people in the streets voicing their public discontent was unheard of.

“This was the first time women took to the streets with banners calling for women’s rights,” adds Doaa. “In the past we always celebrated women’s day in a closed space. “

Decades of previously-silent female voices broke the sound barrier on Tuesday, but International Women's Day groups were met with dozens of anti-women’s protestors who continue to resist progress toward gender equity. “'Egypt is for all, no matter gender or religion' is what we started chanting...the anti-women’s group started chanting at us that we are products of Mubarak’s regime, [saying that] it’s not time for calling for women’s rights but instead unity and that the voice of women is shameful,” continues Doaa.

Gender blackout

In order to move forward, Egypt must not only do away with its political shackles but must free itself from the social ones as well. Like most women in Egyptian villages, Hiba was circumcised as a child. She has five children of her own, including two older girls.

“One day while I was at work my mother came and took the two older girls and had them circumcised,” Hiba says. “I wasn't entirely comfortable with the fact that it happened but I raised with the tradition and important to honour tradition.”

Lack of wars or catastrophic events surrounding gender and a women’s place in society has caused this vital issue of gender politics to never reach the spotlight.

Inequalities in the workforce, increased sexual violence of women by police officers and the country’s state council’s refusal to appoint female judges last February, allotted Egypt a ranking 125th amongst 134 countries and 13th in the Middle East North Africa (MENA). Ninety-five percent of the estimated 27 incidents of rape daily go unreported, 33% of women face domestic violence and women only represent three percent of the ministries, local and Shura council.

“Women have yet to be named to the committee which is drafting the new Egyptian constitution," says Fairuz. “In addition there needs to be a lot of work to help women break the cycle of fear.”