Recently in Arts Category

Before all the buzz dies down around the already-laureled film Precious , we thought we'd stay in the glow of the creator of its title character , the poet and educator known as Sapphire. Your editor met her around 2001 as a fellow member of The Writers Room in Greenwich Village, years after we read her incendiary novel PUSH (upon which the film, starring Gabourey Sidibe in the title role, is based). By then her poetry collection American Dreams had been cited by Publisher's Weekly as "One of the strongest debut collections of the nineties," and she had just published Black Wings & Blind Angels , of which a publisher's excerpt is below. Of that book, Poet's & Writer's Magazine wrote: "With her soul on the line in each verse, her latest collection, Black Wings & Blind Angels , retains Sapphire's incendiary power to win hearts and singe minds."

Read Sapphire's poem, Breaking Karma #5, at Women's Voices For Change.

Sometimes it feels as if all the buzz in literature, especially poetry, is about youth. Who won the Yale Younger Poets Award? The XYZ Fellowship for Writers Under Thirty? That's only one of the reasons we're thrilled for Lisa Russ Spaar, who nearly a decade after being nationally recognized as an "emerging writer" by the Rona Jaffe Foundation, Lisa Russ Spaar has not only emerged, but stayed on top of her game (winning a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship only last year).

Not surprisingly, she's been a mentor to a new generation of poets, founding the University of Virginia's undergraduate poetry program. This week, we're happy to spread the word that Spaar, along with the iconic Charles Wright, has been chosen to receive a Library of Virginia Literary award :

Spaar won for her third and most recent book, "Satin Cash." The judges said her poems "abound in surprising inversions of syntax, and a diction striking for its sudden shifts from demotic to baroquely laden speech — from imagistic precision to statement."

Read Spaar's poetry and see video of a reading at Women's Voices For Change

For my AP Studio Art project this month, I have to create artist trading cards on any current event of my choice. I have chosen feminism! For the project, I need to make 12 cards. My first states that it is myth that we no longer have a need for a women's rights movement. I want the other 11 to explain why I believe this to be true.

These are a few of my reasons:
-70,000 women die a year, internationally due to unsafe abortions.
- In the U.S. women typically make $.70 to a man's dollar in wages.
-1 out of every 6 American women has been a victim of attempted or completed rape. (that's from RAINN)
-ALL women everywhere deserve complete social, economic, reproductive, and political rights.
-Society's ideal of feminine beauty is disgustingly narrow.
-Women are strong, smart, and capable.

I'm obviously missing alot, but there's so many issues that call for feminism's attention. Any more to add or ones that shouldn't necessarily be in my 'elite' eleven?

Abortion rights campaigner and comedienne Kate Smurthwaite impersonated her way into Anthony Gormley's exhibit One & Other on the vacant fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square in London on Wednesday, quite possibly becoming the world's first living art forgery.

One & Other is an art project by the Anthony Gormley, putting up one person every hour from around the UK onto the vacant fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square from 6 July through 14 October and webcast live at www.oneandother.co.uk.

This slot was originally allocated to Goretti Horgan from Alliance for Choice, the campaign for Northern Irish women to be given the right to an abortion. However, Kate Smurthwaite, at Horgan's request, secretly took Horgan's place.

"Of course it would take a lot of effort and cost a lot of money for Goretti to come over to be on the fourth plinth --just like the effort and expense incurred by women from Northern Ireland who are forced to travel to England, Wales and Scotland to access abortion services," Smurthwaite said. "So we decided instead that I would go along and impersonate her."

The staff at One & Other carefully check identification to ensure that the winners of the plinth drawing receive their spot.

A photograph of a ten year old Brook Shields taken from the knees up, naked, oiled up and wearing heavy makeup was to be hung in a pornographic exhibition at the Tate Modern, London. Police intervened and removed the photograph. Opinions are divided, some agreeing its wrong and many claiming that it is merely a photograph of a child in her natural state and whats pornagraphic about that? Personally, I do not believe that a childs natural state is heavily made up, staring provocatively at a camera. Also as I mentioned, it was part of a pornagraphic exhibition.

The photograph was also used in a playboy publication years ago subtitled 'surprising and sensual images of women' and Brook Shields has attempted to supress the image herself.

Anyone up for creating the ultimate feminist playlist?

What shall we put on it...

Independent Woman by Destiny's Child?

Can't Hold Us Down by Xtina?

I am Woman by Helen Reddy?

God by Tori Amos?

Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush?

Your thoughts plizz and happy listening!

Let’s be crass at the outset. A half a million dollars. Five hundred thousand bucks-- in quarterly installments of $25,000 for five years.That is enough security to stop a sculptor of stanzas in her tracks , but there is no question that it will most likely just help the iconoclastic poet Heather McHugh to keep on keeping on. (Editor’s note: Short story writer Deborah Eisenberg, 63, another iconoclast and icon. has also received a MacArthur and will be profiled in the coming days .) No doubt, for McHugh (seen at right in a photo by David Belisle) that keeping on will involve staying one or two steps ahead of anyone who wants to figure her out.

A news story about the MacArthur grants said she’s “a poet known for her syntactical twists.” The grant press release described her as “a poet whose intricately patterned compositions explore various aspects of the human condition and inspire wonder in the unexpected associations that language can evoke." Another said she was known for puns.

Try as they might, reductionist descriptions of a woman who entered Harvard at age 16, running from a rural Virginia home life of outhouses and parents on the outs with one another, will only help to obscure the view of her. Because she does not want to be understood.

Read more, including McHugh's poem "What He Thought," and an animation of "Spacebar" at Women's Voices For Change.

Founded in 1972, A.I.R. Gallery is the first artist-run, not-for-profit contemporary art gallery for women artists in the country. As an early alternative space, A.I.R. served as a catalyst for the women's art movement and a modle for other artists and arts organizations. As art critic Holland Cotter recently wrote in the New York Times, "Most of the interesting American artists of the last 10 years are as interesting as they are in part because of the feminist art movement of the early 1970's. It changed everything... What art in the next 30 years will look like I don't know, but feminist influences will be at its source." 

A.I.R. Gallery currently has two exciting opportunities available for women artists! Please see below for more information.

A.I.R. FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM: 18-month professional development program with solo show opportunity for women in the NYC area.
Panelists: Lowery Stokes-Sims, Curator, Museum of Art and Design; Harriet Senie, Art Critic and Art Historian; and Catherine Morris, Curator of the Elizabeth Sackler Center for Feminist Art at The Brooklyn Museum.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: October 31, 2009.

Apply online or download an application: http://www.airgallery.org
Send SASE for prospectus to: A.I.R. Gallery, 111 Front St #228, Brooklyn, NY, 11217
  
THE MAN I WISH I WAS - OPEN CALL FOR ARTIST SUBMISSIONS. A.I.R. Gallery invites any artist worldwide who self-identifies as female to submit original works of art for a one-month group exhibit in January 2010. We look forward to unanticipated perspectives and encourage an open interpretation of "The Man I Wish I Was."  For full details and application see www.airgallery.org <http://www.airgallery.org/> or send SASE to A.I.R. Gallery, 111 Front Street #228, Brooklyn NY 11201. Deadline: October 2, 2009.

I had an unexpectedly intense day.

I went with my friend, B, to the Brooklyn Museum of Art this afternoon as part of our New York Museum Tour. A friend of hers had tipped her off to the fantastic and provocative exhibition of Yinka Shonibare MBE 's work (an amazing exhibit, that you should make a trip to see), and so we trudged all the way (phew!) to Brooklyn, a rare venture for Manhattanites.

Upon paying our preferred donation of $1 (BMA is a suggested donation venue, Goddess love them, as we are quite poor, but if you can afford more, please do so!), we attempted to get our bearings by perusing the pictorial directory. At this point B became very excited by something in a picture- 'The Dinner Party' by Judy Chicago. I looked at B with my customary blend of curiosity and ignorance. B has an excellent background in Art History and Museum Studies, so I am quite accustomed to her vast knowledge surpassing my own, especially in the art world. However, there was shock on B's face when she realized that I did not know of Ms. Chicago.

'The Dinner Party' is the single biggest piece of feminist art ever acknowledged, B informed me with a look tinged with disbelief and, perhaps, a bit of horror. We then skipped over the Shonibare exhibit, heading directly to the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.

Let me coo for a moment- How AMAZING is it that an art museum has a permanent gallery dedicated to feminist art? I've never heard of this before, and in the wake of such an experience I'm a bit saddened by this. Ideally feminist art would have a role in art of all types and in many galleries and there would be no need for a specially designated 'feminist section', but this is not yet an ideal world. I wish I had had the opportunity to visit a Center for Feminist Art before I was 24 years old, but I am grateful for today, however hurtful it may have been.

I wrote a new 10 minute stage play, called Burqa and Bikini ... I would love it if some of you guys can check it out... I like to think of it as a very feminist play...

if anyone of you live in London, England or are planning to be in London from late September to early October, you should come see my play, HOW THE RAPIST WAS BORN, to be seen at Tristan Bates Theatre, in Covent Garden from September 28th to October 17th, 2009.

thanks for reading. cheers.

-Sabina England

I'm taking a class on representations of America in cinema. My professor seems to be trying very hard to make his film selections as inclusive as possible in terms of genre, as well as race, class, and even sexual orientation. Nonetheless, I noticed a dearth of films about or by women.

I wanted to speak up right away, but I realized- I don't really have any suggestions! I'm interested in film but by no means an expert. So, I thought I would ask the mighty feministing community- what are some great movies about or by or at least including women? For the class they need to also have something to say about "America", but I'm interested in any suggestions that there may be.

I've found another awesome photo essay over at JPG. The essay, called A Series of Questions deals with the hurtful and awkward questions that transgendered people are too commonly forced to deal with.

The subjects, self-identified people of transgender and transsexual experience, hold signs depicting questions that each has had posed to them personally. It forces the viewer to think about how supposed simple questions can harbor much transphobia and harm.

Over at JPG, I came across an interesting photography project regarding Gender Roles in society, whether traditional or nontraditional. Photographers explain that "gender determines our destiny more than we may realize." Of course over here at Feministing, we are already aware of this.

Either way, it's worth a look; there's some really rad photos and interesting concepts.

By the way, I haven't been able to look at all of them, so there's chance some might be NSFW.

The popularity of video games has exploded in the past few decades and with it has come a new channel for feminist thought. I've enjoyed video games for as long as I can remember but, until recently, they didn't have the sophistication and thought of a full-blown art form. Now, increases in technology, talent and funding have given developers new media for serious artistic expression. Interestingly, in an artistic world of guns and guts, feminism has made its presence known and it has been extremely successful.

Valve has been at the forefront of game development for more than a decade. In addition to their considerable technical innovations, Valve has been developing the narrative structure for interactive story-telling. All studios and developers must address the issues of narrative and character development in the wake of Valve's successes. Valve's Half-life and Portal, some of the most successful video game titles ever, have redefined the limits of video game narrative. Both are worth examining more closely because they contain positive feminist messages and will influence future games with their success.

Half-life 2 was released in 2004 as a sequel to an earlier titled released in the late 90's. The main protagonist (the player) is Gordon Freeman, a physicist who works as part of a resistance movement against an oppressive alien race. Throughout this game and its several sequels, he is constantly working, usually one-on-one, with a woman called Alyx Vance. She is the most important feminist influence in the game and the source of many new ideas.

Alyx's appearance is a noticeably realistic. She is a fighter in a resistance movement and looks the part. Her jeans are soiled and ripped, her boots are muddy and she wears a loose fitting hooded sweater. Her face and hands are dirty and her hair is utilitarian and tousled. This is in stark contrast to previous female game characters, such as Lara croft from Tomb Raider, who were designed to fit teenage male interests rather than authenticity. Alyx's complexion is noticeably not white. The story does not indicate her mother's race but her father is black: another noticeable difference from the standard. These artistic touches amount to the creation of a developed, believable departure from the female caricature so often found in popular media. When the player views her character on the screen, her character is what is seen, not her body.

This article is a a few weeks, er, maybe a few months, old... but I just saw it linked on the store's site. Women and Children First, a great feminist bookstore in Chicago, is struggling in this economic climate. I know we are, too. I know many of us are students, are underemployed, etc, etc. But if you can, support your locals! 

So I think I might be just a teensy, tiny little bit obsessed with Etsy, the magical place on the interweb that brings you spiffy handmade goods from independent sellers all over the globe. I know I’m I’m not alone in my DIY shopping zeal. The Etsy obsessed may number in the thousands these days. There’s even a guy who keeps a blog about about being an Etsy widower, the phenomenon that occurs when your significant other becomes so Etsy-absorbed that she forsakes all other things in the name of craftiness. Dude, you and my boyfriend should totally start a support group, I’ll give you his phone number.

Some people are so into Etsy that there’s a whole website about planning your wedding with it. I used to make fun of people who had their nuptials devised before there was even a proposal but  I’ve gone through the website and bookmarked every invitation, feathered bridal fascinator and crocheted wedding bouquet I liked. I said it was for a friend who’s getting married this summer, but no, it was all for me and my future awesome totally DIY wedding that is taking place, oh I don’t know, somewhere between now and 2085. I’ll send you a handmade letterpress save the date printed on recycled bamboo with soy based inks when I get around to it.

"I Always Do My Collars First: A Film About Ironing," was released through the University of Louisiana @ Lafayette's Cinematic Arts Workshop. It came out a while ago and I'd heard a lot about it, but I just recently got a chance to watch it myself.

The film follows four dynamic Cajun women in Southwestern Louisiana in their daily lives and illustrates exactly what ironing means to each of them. It delivers "an artful and unexpectedly intriguing view of what is often overlooked as a mundane chore" (from the website).

The film is both funny and very touching. "Ironing is a nurturing, emotional, and learned activity transmitted from mothers to daughters," explains folklore student and the film's writer, Conni Castille. "It's performed with aesthetic sensibilities that tie these women to other women in their communities."

The film examines the lives of the four main characters (Rookie, Gay, Aunt Be, and Georgie) as they recall helping their mothers through the laborious process of doing laundry in the 30s and 40s. For many Cajun women who grew up poor, crisply ironed clothes were a source of great pride. "Following the four Breaux Bridge women from baptisms to funerals, Catholic masses and Cajun dances, the film shows how the ordinary, intimate ritual of ironing is woven into the fabric of family life."

I was born and raised in Louisiana, and I can't imagine ever leaving for too long; this film reminds me why. While I especially appreciate it because it's set in my homestate, I think everyone can relate to it. Some of my fondest memories are of my mother instructing me on the art of cooking gumbo or red beans or my grandmother showing me the right way to, yes, iron.

It may seem painfully cliche or even oppressive--female bonding through (what else?) cooking and cleaning, but I will always cherish those memories.

You can see a clip of the movie here.

Another film released through the Cinematic Arts Workshop was "Raised on Rice and Gravy", about plate lunch houses in Lafayette. It's another great film that reminds me how unique and wonderful a place Louisiana is.

I think they're both worth checking out. Hope you enjoy!

Yesterday I posted on the Fallen Princesses photo series by Dina Goldstein on my blog. Today there's a post on this series on the Bitch Blog. The comments vary widely with some commenters loving the series and others hating it.

Here are the two images from the series that I posted:
Here and here.

When I first saw the photos, I interpreted them as commentary on the inability of princesses to cope with real life situations, and the fact that princesses are not immune to the kinds of hardships (like cancer and war) that befall others. So, for example, I viewed the image of Snow White as a statement that motherhood is sure to result from the heteronormative model that the life of a princess is supposed to conform to, but princesses have no practical skills, and being a mother isn't always the most glamorous experience. Similarly, the image of Belle indicates that living up to the beuaty standard that's required of princesses is actually quite painful and potentially damaging.

However, others are viewing this as a statement that being a mother or a cancer victim or overweight (the Little Red Riding Hood pic) are all "fallen states." Further, most people are interpreting Jasmin's picture as depicting her as a terrorist, which would be very problematic, although I didn't interpret it that way at all. And of course, the implicit sort of fat shaming involved in the Little Red Riding Hood image is unacceptable, although it might be viewed as another exploration of the issues we face in our commercialized and over-processed world.

So I'm curious to see what reaction these images get here. Do you think they're offensive, and if so, why? Do you have a different interpretation than those already stated?

I would like to tell you a little about a fabulous new show of feminist art in NYC called "Easy on the Eyes" (by Jeanette May).  Looking at these gorgeous, lush photographs (each paired with text from a novel by a woman author--more about that in a moment) is itself pretty "easy on the eyes." Seeing this artwork is a powerful reminder for me of what's missing in our daily experience: smart, feminist images in which women are the ones looking at men.  Jeanette May's show is, in this way, like a tall glass of ice tea on a miserably hot day.

Of course, May work isn't just pretty, and it's not just that the men in the photographs are lovely (although they are). What May is doing here, and in some of her other work as well, is more than ice tea, although it's still delicious. Her work is really smart feminist work, and it's edgy but with a sense of humor and bit of playful intrigue. Each of the photographs shows a scene in which there's evidence of a woman, but we see only the man. Next to the image is text from a novel in which a woman is gazing upon a man, or describing his features. The image and the text have resonance, but they don't overlap; instead they complicate each other and raise interesting possibilities.

 Looking at this artwork, then, is both remarkably satisfying and pleasantly unsettling. May fills a gap she sees in art (the female gaze). But she also raises lots of interesting questions--theoretical, political, and narrative.

Here are the links to May's webpage and AIR Gallery, where the show is up until June 21. Check it out!

http://www.jeanettemay.com
http://www.airgallery.org

The first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize, Edna St. Vincent Millay published her first book in 1917 — the year she graduated Vassar College and moved to Greenwich Village, just as the United States entry into World War I began. For the next 40 years, Millay was an integral part of the Village scene, gaining renown for her formal rigor in the "Objectivist" school and for the clarity and passion of her ideas. While World War II tested Millay's pacifism, she never regretted writing the poem below, which you will hear recited at some Memorial Day observances this weekend.

To read her poem, "Conscientious Objector", please join us at Women's Voices For Change.

A progressive and inovative theatre company in St. Louis, New Line Theatre has but a call out for all entries of scenes, songs, ideas, etc for a new musical to open a season, Rush Limbaugh Saves the World! This is a great theatre company that always does really strong work. Lets vent our rage on Rush through art! I encourage everyone to participate! 

Funny Right? Here is the blurb from their website

New Line Theatre and The Washington Avenue Players Project seek submissions of smart, original, dynamic scenes and songs for a new musical theatre piece focusing on Rush Limbaugh as a snapshot or crystallization of this moment in American culture. The chosen pieces will be assembled into a full-length musical, tentatively called Rush Limbaugh Saves the World, to open New Line's 20th season in fall 2010 for a four-week run, as part of the 2010 St. Louis Political Theatre Festival.

Scenes and songs can be about Rush himself and his own life, about political discourse in America,  about the cultural impact of conservative talk radio, or any other related theme.

Pieces can be in any style, from any perspective, liberal, conservative, or neither, and we prefer songs and scenes that are active, that contain action or change, that take the audience on a journey of some kind. They can be serious or comic, straightforward or satiric. They can be entirely about Rush or they can use Rush as a point of entry into politics, pop culture, talk radio, etc. New Line is interested in provocative, insightful, thoughtful submissions, not simplistic attacks, and nothing that could be considered blatantly untrue or libelous will be chosen. No submission should be longer than 10-15 minutes at most. No previously published material will be accepted. Adult language and content are not a problem. The show will be modeled in part on concept musicals like Company, Assassins, Jacques Brel, The Cradle Will Rock, and Songs for a New World.

http://www.newlinetheatre.com/rushpage.html

As an artist, feminist and self-proclaimed graphic novel geek, I am having problems coming up with an authentically progressive protagonist for my next project. Comic books have a reputation, not universally deserved, for serving up ample-breasted, gnat-waisted Amazons in a variety of skimpy outfits; whilst this clearly is not the angle I would take under any circumstances, other than a heavy touch of irony, immersion in the social commentary of Feministing, Shapely Prose and Sociological Images - amongst others - has given me a problematic case of drawer's block.

The genre isn't without its shining examples; Marjane Satrapi's "Persepolis" and "Embroideries", for example, are feminist in a fiercely personal sense, down to the ungendered black ensemble in which all her characters dress unless necessary to emphasise circumstances requiring this detail. David Mack's "Kabuki" series may heavily feature skin-tight lycra, but this post-modern psychodrama from the perspective of an all-female cast is far from superficial. Alan Moore's "Watchmen" takes a painfully cynical knife to the Wonderwoman stereotype. Perhaps the best example of all is "Ghost World", which refuses to artificially impose on its female subjects at all.

Not that there is nothing to criticise in the above example, but in a stylistic genre, it is very easy to run the risk of fetishizing any model you take into an offensively larger-than-life parody of the reality you are attempting to reflect. Adrian Tomine-style life-dramas-with-pictures aside, what characteristic do you foresee a progressive comic book heroine to possess?

The Artivist Film Festival ONLY accepts films and videos that address a human rights, social, or political issue, children's issues/advocacy, animal issues/rights, or environmental issues -in essence, "activist" films that raise awareness about a particular issue or topic. Artivist also accepts films of individuals and organizations creating or inspiring positive change around them. Artivist screens shorts, feature-length films, documentaries, narratives, music videos, experimental, and animated film and videos directed by international filmmakers.

Films that have screened at Artivist in the past include "Fast Food Nation" and "Born into Brothels."

Details may be found here.

Once upon a time, a few female comedians sat around wondering why a feminist comedy publication didn't exist.  They started talking, invited feminists/comedians/writers to join the discussion and Wisecrack Magazine was born.

Here at Wisecrack, we're now gearing up for the launch of our new quarterly magazine!  Our mission:

-Support women in comedy 

-Provide a space for disscussions on gender and comedy

-Celebrate humor as a tool for social change

We're currently looking for Campus Liaisons, volunteers, writers, cartoonists for our quarterly and feminist/ comedian bloggers to join our upcoming communal blog.  Interested?  Send wisecrackzine AT gmail.com a note.

Other ways to be involved:

oin our group on Facebook. 

Follow our blog . 

Tell your friends about us!  As a volunteer-driven not-for-profit group, word-of-mouth advertising is one of our main marketing tools. 

"We're all in this together, by ourselves." -Lily Tomlin

So, I have never actually created a post here, but after my friend sent me a link to this movie review, I felt the need to spread the word.

While I have not actually seen this movie (most of these 'comedies' apall me, as they are filled with sexism, racism and an unbelievable amount of mysogyny, thus I tend to save my mind and money from the bs), it seems as though it may be one of the worst yet.

According to this NYT movie review there is a date rape scene which is meant to evoke HUMOR from the audience. I am outraged.

What makes me sick is that this film will most likely draw a large audience and make a ton of money off of a plot that is dangerous to women and absolutely disgusting. They have turned a very serious issue in our society into a joke. What we need to be doing is raising awareness on the critical issues of rape- especially date rape- not normalizing it. I hope that many of you will join with me in boycotting this movie and/or raising awareness around it.

"I have represented this country and this culture. And I’m glad that there is a queer, out, dyke artist that’s being called an American photographer." ~Catherine Opie Catalog Interview

At the time of her mid-career survey at the Guggenheim last year, American photographer Catherine Opie visited the Center to talk about her work. She told us it was her first time doing a presentation in an LGBT space. It was a fascinating evening in which she explained the background motivating much of her work. You should be aware that some of the images are explicit.

Watch Catherine Opie at the Center

Wisecrack: Feminism and Comedy is a brand new zine/online publication in the works!

The purpose of this publication is to support female comedians and encourage greater discourse surrounding issues of gender and comedy performance.

To this aim, we strive to:
-Document comediennes' experiences
-Provide space for exploration of related topics
-Spread the word about comediennes/ projects/ events going on in Chicago and beyond
-Explore the power of humor as a tool for feminism, social change

The plan is for this to be both a published zine and web publication.

Submissions for the first issue are due on March 23rd.

Please send submissions, as well as the following to wisecrackzine@gmail.com:

1) Name
2) Telephone number
3) Title of work(s) submitted
4) Previous publishing- has this work been published elsewhere?
5) Current mailing address
6) Biography- please include one paragraph which may include life history, background, current work, reasons you got interested in what you wrote about, or any other facts that might be relevant or interesting.

Submissions may take any form, including personal narrative, essay, comic strip, poetry, review, etc.

If you'd like to be a part of the project in any way, we need your skills. We need brainstormers, writers, editors, artists, volunteers... let me know any way you'd like to help.

Please pass this to anyone you think may be interested.

Hell's bells! Thanks for your help!

Caitlin Rogers
Founder, Wisecrack: Feminism and Comedy
wisecrackzine@gmail.com

Don't you love it when young girls defy gender stereotypes and do amazing and awesome things? I just discovered a 10-year old girl in London, England whose colourful and kick-ass graffiti is gaining some serious respect.

The girl's name is Solveig and she frequently incorporates the first three letters of her name into her designs. All her works are signed and indicate her age at time of completion.

Apart from her talent for painting, Solveig is like any other schoolgirl and lists her interests as playing with Barbies and collecting Doctor Who cards.

Check out her story in the UK's Telegraph (including a photo gallery with 12 pieces of her work).
You can also see Solveig's Flickr Page to view more of her work.

SPOILER WARNING: This post contains spoilers for Coraline.

Yesterday I went and saw Coraline . I'm a big fan of the book, and while several changes bugged me I was still very impressed with the movie. (Feminist friendly too. It even passes the Bechdel test and everything!) There was one part of the movie, and the reaction said scene gained, that once again illustrated how we villify the body.

In case you're not familar with the story, it's a about a girl whose family moves to an apartment with a door that leads to an alternate reality (it's more than just that, but you'll have to read/see for yourself!). This other world also has alternate versions of her family and the other people in the apartment building. In her real world there's Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, who are two washed up actresses.

In the other world, however, they're still "trodding the boards" and give Coraline a show. There's one point where Miss Forcible shows up as Botticelli's Venus. Here's a pic that doesn't really do it justice. I was shocked, but in a good way. It's not often that you see a large woman decked out in body jewels and enjoying herself.

I didn't think much more about it until leaving the theatre. There was a gaggle of 20 somethings and all they talked about was Miss Forcible's Venus.

"Scariest thing in the movie!"

"Don't think kids should see that!"

"What were they thinking?"

Few things piss me off more than this notion that seeing naked people will somehow scar children for life. Just what is it that's so damn threatening to people? Horrible button-eyed spider women that eat children? Sure, bring the kids. Old lady boobs? OMG HIDE THEM!!!

I wonder if these people have ever seen Disney's Fantasia . There's no way in hell that movie would be made today. It pains me that movies like Kirikou and the Sorceress would never get an audience in America, while crap like Barnyard and Horton Hears a Who are readily available. Between a good movie filled with non-sexual nudity (like Kirikou or even Coraline ) and the next CGI wasteland, I'd rather my kids watch the former. Mediocrity  is more of a threat to a growing child's mind than all the boobies in the world.

Amanda Palmer is an exceptional performer who is known for writing very hard biting, sometimes cynical, sometimes scathing, and always interesting music.

***TRIGGER WARNING****

She's writen a public blog about her tongue in cheek song "Oasis" being rejected for airplay in the UK due to the topics of a girl getting drunk, dated raped, having an abortion, and yet shrugging it all off because she received an autographed picture from the band Oasis. "making light of rape, religion and abortion".

As Ms. Palmer's blog makes clear the upbeat 'everything is fine' attitiude is intended to highlight the disconnect between the events and the people experiencing the events.

It doesn't offend me. In fact my first reaction was the realization I wish there were more mainstream songs about abortion and girls' and women's experiences around rape and abortion. Perhaps if there were more artistic expression about these subjects through the entire spectrum of feelings we as surviors and supporters might have an easier time selecting what to accept and reject on a personal level rather than requiring an agency to do so on our behalf.

The song made me want abortion to be free of public shame and I felt pain for all the girls/women for whom date rape is par for the course, normalized through denial and folded between pages of glossy fashion magazines.

What do you think?

SEEKING FEMINIST SEX WORKERS in the NYC area (Call girls/ strippers/ dominatrices/ phone sex operators/ etc.) for a documentary photography project. If you are involved in sex work, or know anyone who might be interested in participating in this project, please contact me! (open to all races, genders, sexual orientations, shapes and ages).

Contact Ilana

I had been putting off posting this since it's my first one, but there have been a couple community posts in the last week that are semi-related and I thought it might be useful to put this up while people might still be thinking about those.

So lately I've been thinking about something I haven't seen discussed much here - sexism in "fine art". I turned up some cool resources, most notably Guerrilla Girls. Feministing has a link to another website of theirs in the Links section. They cite some sad statistics, such as females accounting for less than 5% of artists in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, while making up 85% of the nude pieces. Their site is very much worth a visit.

I've been thinking about this because I've been going to some figure drawing sessions recently. These are usually nude, sometimes costumed models, in a series of different poses for several hours while 10-20 people sketch. Out of the 15 I've attended, there have been 2 male models. The first was the man who ran the session filling in for a (I think female) model who canceled, and the other one only did half a session. That alone would bother me, but the models have also been almost entirely young, all white, and all conforming to a standard idea of beauty. These have been at 2 different places, and email notifications from the one I'm no longer going to have shown a continued bias.

I know that art schools sometimes get less conventional models, and these have been open sessions where anybody can come, so the psychic comfort of the model might be a part. But that still doesn't explain the 8:1 ratio favoring females, or the lack of people of color.

It doesn't seem to me that this is a 'choice of subject matter' or 'what is art?' scenario, it doesn't seem to be just a coincidence, and doesn't make much artistic sense (to me, anyway) to have such a limited model type. Most bodies represented in art already look like these examples. You see them all the time in advertising. They should be the ones artists need the least practice with.

The artists attending both sessions have varied widely across sex, race, and age, seem like very cool people, and except for one weird comment about a costumed model wanting to get out of her prom dress have behaved totally professionally, which just confuses me more as to why this is an issue.

I haven't been going to these sessions long enough to be a 'regular', so I feel uncomfortable about trying to bring this up.

Any of you Feministing people have thoughts, experiences, or advice?

Enjoy!  If you do you could also go over to the Current TV website and vote for it to be televised.  But that is very shameless self-promotion so if you prefer - just enjoy.  And happy winterval to all!

(Also posted at Fortissimo)

As part of and an extension of an exhibition In the name of Victoria, artist Warren Leung Chi Wo presented his project My name is Victoria in a limited edition of 300 beautifully elegant books. I was lucky to have one of them. The content is same as the video work, of women named Victoria telling stories about their names. This is a work to "explore the concept of preservation, not only of information but also the idea of one's identity in relation with others' expectation, perception and memory". "Victoria" can be a political topic in Hong Kong, but from Leung's work, many layers of meanings can be seen. One of them is gender ideologies concerned with nomenclature. We realize not only political implications carried by the name, but also expectation and perception of gender identity, from oneself or other people.

I want to present a question to you: When you see a nude female tied up in a photograph, do you consider it art? Would it help if it were supposed to be representative of a cause? Would it help if the photographer were famous? Would it make a difference if it were hung in a museum/gallery, and gawked at by a crowd? Why would you consider it art?

Here are my thoughts, I have absolutely nothing against artistic nudity, nor do I consider myself a "prude" or "philistine". (I hate this sort of labeling, but lets save that for another topic). What I do have something against, is that artistic nudity is almost always of women. Why is a man's body almost never depicted? Why does his body seem to be off limits? Personally I find the bold, muscular, and sinewy body of a man to be very appealing, and Greek and Roman sculptures had no problem with it either.

Yet how original can it be when a photographer uses a woman's naked body in a photo? Hasn't this been done about a billion or more times? If a woman's body were poetry, we would hear professors emphatically shouting how cliche and unoriginal she is; how we need something different, especially the whole bondage, tied up scenario, how welcome would that line be? Yet, here we are, still tying women up, stripping them of all their clothes, and having them splayed in front of a camera, and calling it art.

I would like to ask how this is art. It certainly is not abstract, clearly it is meant to be surreal, so what is the message that we are supposed to get from bound, suffering women with vacant eyes? Is it a message of oppression? What about the more graphic photos? Are they a message of oppression as well?

/also posted on Fortissimo (ff) /

Chen Lingyang presented her personal expression truly beautifully through Twelve Flower Months (2000). Her use of metaphor and visual treatment not only carries thoughts of Chinese culture, but more importantly, handles the taboo very delicately. The following website may have destroyed the poetic quality of her work, but here we can see the whole series to get a gesture of it. Please view .

Earlier this morning I stumbled upon some of the most powerful artwork I've ever seen. My favorite is the sixth one down, what a perfect artisticve representation of Obama's ideals. Progress is exactly what we need right now. Not the I have to tell any of you that!

The works are collected on this French website so if anyone has a URL with more comments in English please share. But the artwork is fanastic and the video is insanely creative.

Sharing an article from ArtReview magazine: The Power 100 (2008). /also posted at Fortissimo /

New at Voice of Dissent - Fabulous Feminist Photos From Flickr.

I've been scouring Flickr a lot lately and after seeing all of the great feminist imagery decided to do a feature here on the blog. I hope you enjoy them and feel free to reply with links to your favorites.

View the rest of the article

We went camping on the Oregon Coast last weekend, and while it rained the entire time, Stewie had fun on the beach on the last day we were there. We've come to an agreement though: all future camping is to be done in hotels and resorts. (No Jimmi, wherever you are, no cabins.)

This is a feminism poem I created. I was getting tired of the sexist rap I would hear my boyfriend play, mine have any proffesional level, but I just wanted to do it for fun.

You have nothing to pay for

They want to push you down and make you pay.
They'll tell you to feel robbed and dirty.
Cuz that's all you'll ever be if your raped or layed.
They'll tell you to feel unpure and used like a doll.
Because a doll never stops smiling even through shit.
With fake tits and no brains.
You'll be everyone's bitch.
In this alpha male world your nothing but trash that leaves stains.
Sins and stains you'll have to clean up.
For the thirst of knowledge and freedom from a lie.
Since then your body is bad temptation, so cover up and pay up.
But when sex comes let yourself be control and open wide.
Don't speak your mind, because they say you have no mind of your own.
To them your just the second sex.
And an object and a joke they created on their own.
Now listen, here is the truth so put it to the test.
Your conditioned mind has blinded you, to not do your own best. Because the oppresive male is afraid of you being independent. In other words you won't be their slave, whore, trophy housewife, and their pornographic object.
So stand up for your own.
Never let them push you down and make you pay, because you have nothing to pay for.

Here is a short 5 minute stage play I wrote when I was bored, lonely, angry, upset, sleepy and horny. (and for the record: yes I am a playwright)

LIVING INSIDE A BOX LIKE A DIRTY WHORE
a 5 Minute Play written by Sabina England

2008

This is Stewart. He's a cuddle bug.

Reading katems's post on Fine Arts and Feminism got me thinking some more about opera and feminism. I am an aspiring opera singer, and I put my own interpretations of character into the arias I sing, as I mentioned in my comment there.

However, I've also recently discovered that I greatly enjoy composing. I'm casually working on an opera of The Scarlet Letter right now, which is not a feminist text at all but which is a rather operatic one.

So here are my two questions:

1. What operas would you consider feminist? Both generally and in ways certain roles can be interpreted.

2. What good feminist stories ought to be made into operas? I could stand to have more than one side project.
(For the record, I probably shouldn't leak this, but there's an opera of Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower coming out soon.)

So says art critic Brian Sewell in the UK's Independent:

"The art market is not sexist," Mr Sewell said. "The likes of Bridget Riley and Louise Bourgeois are of the second and third rank. There has never been a first-rank woman artist.

"Only men are capable of aesthetic greatness. Women make up 50 per cent or more of classes at art school. Yet they fade away in their late 20s or 30s. Maybe it's something to do with bearing children."

This, just a paragraph after name-checking Artemisia Gentilleschi, widely regarded by her male contemporaries as one of the great painters of the 17th century.

Riiight, Mr. Sewell. It has everything to do with our uteruses, and nothing to do with men being the majority of art critics, art investors, art dealers and auction house managers. Please go suck on a lead paint-filled brush.

Pieces by male artists regularly go for tens of millions of dollars. By contrast, Marlene Dumas became the most expensive living woman artist at auction 2 weeks ago when her work The Visitor sold for £3.2m at Sotheby's (roughly $6.4 million).

The Russian artist Natalia Goncharova holds the record for the most expensive female artist sold at auction, with her Les Fleurs selling for £5.5 million. Yet this pales in comparison with the £43m made by British male artist Francis Bacon's "Triptych, 1976" in May – the most expensive piece of contemporary art sold at auction to date.

Nope, no sexism in the art world. Never mind the fact that works by Mary Cassatt are dismissed for containing subject matter that is "domestic" (i.e., important to women of her time) or that Georgia O'Keefe's stunning paitings were sniffed at because they dared resemble female genitalia. Because, y'know, male-produced art never resembles male genitalia, right? Read the rest of the article <a href=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art-and-architecture/features/theres-never-been-a-great-woman-artist-860865.html>here.</a> Meanwhile, I and the rest of the fabulous female artists on my blogroll will go back to making beauty in the world.

In her post "The biggest lies about sex I was ever told", Lauren made a suggestion to those of us who fancy ourselves artists: a Frankenstein flower, symbolizing that while we may give away parts of ourselves when we have sex but that our partners do too.

Well, here is my interpretation of Frankenstein's Flower.

I think that one of the things I struggle with most in my daily life is where my passions intersect. I am an aspiring opera singer. I've been studying classical vocal pedagogy since I was a wee one. It is my art, my spiritual connection, and my true love. 

I am just as passionate about my feminist ideals, even though they arouse passions that are different from my music. It has become a huge struggle for me to justify loving opera and feminism because so many operatic stories and characters are anti-feminist. It's not always true, but I have to admit that there are few female characters that I find inspiring or edgy. 

The earliest operas that survived are operas based on Greek-Roman mythology. After that, opera was meant to tell stories that exalted the current nobility (who were the main financial contributers to the composers). Mozart started a new trend of making operas that made fun of the nobility and were for common people. When the romantic period came around, composers like, Verdi routinely used their operas to convey dissatisfaction with the current ruling class, and make controversial commentary on society. This is exemplified in the opera, La Traviata. The main character of the opera is a courtesan, and instead of demonizing her, Verdi makes the audience sympathize with her and feel for her and portray her as a hero. This was revolutionary. Even in our society in 2008, a movie that has a sex worker as the hero of the story would be controversial. 

There are other great female characters in opera, but there are many more that are not feminist at all. In fact, the most beloved female opera characters are usually the sweet, delicate "good girl" characters. And even as much as I would love to sing some of those roles because the music is so amazing, I hate the character. I love to sing me some Mozart, but all of his operas are obscenely sexist. It's a conflicting situation. I've tried telling myself that the sexism is OK because it's from so long ago that a lot of the concepts are just "funny" or "ridiculous" to people now-a-days. However, as I've become more interested in Feminism, I see that there are a shit ton of people who still hold onto ancient ideas about a woman's place, which makes the operas not funny at all. 

I've come to realize that my chosen art form presents a lot of personal contradictions. Because art is very personal, I feel the my personal goals are hypocritical compared to my personal philosophy. So I'm wondering, is there anyone else out there who has experienced similar dilemmas? Is there other forms of art that are so rigid? How did you deal with it and or justify it? 

A little poem to start the blog out right...

i know i am not wise
yet somehow i seem to have
fooled everyone to think so
i know i am not pretty
of this i am quite certain
don't be fooled, however, for
i know that hidden beneath
this mediocre exterior is
beauty of great depth
if you wish to truly see it
look no further than my eyes
it is there that i keep my secrets
with all my hopes and dreams

there is something to be said
for those who can see
what it appears i cannot
but that doesn't mean
that i will believe you
or that i will even accept it
don't you worry, though
for i won't forget it

i sit surrounded by the words
and the pages i devour
without a second thought
for i'd rather be nowhere else
i sit with all of my emotions
displayed upon my sleeves
because i have yet to learn
to hide them behind my eyes
i sit encouraged by my creations
to push boundaries further
and remember that the past
does not define my future
i sit and inhale the fumes
from my cup of coffee
my counterpart, determined
to maintain my consciousness

perhaps wisdom is what comes
from a life dedicated
to knowledge and understanding
take care not to judge me
for my age or appearance
it may appear that i know more
than you give me credit for