ashlei-s-art

[ashlei-s-art]

work in progress

she's somewhat inspired by a short story I wrote for school

if this is the same character, she's in the process of poisoning her aunt so that she can be come empress

[ashlei-s-art]

thoughts on E Pauline Johnson/Tekahionwake

don't got enough energy to make this as coherent as i'd like but I'm thinking about the writings of E Pauline Johnson (also known as Tehakionwake) a lot -- I really like her writing, and as a Canadian, I'm happy to learn about Canadian literature since all I was taught in school was American and English stuff until I finally took Canadian Lit in uni

I tend to think about certain peices of her writing from a "female rage" standpoint -- and idk if that's accurate or fair - I don't know if I'm forcefully imposing a modern label on her works, but not only is that what I see when I read ""Ojistoh," "A Cry from an Indian Wife," "The Cattle Thief" and (especially) "As it Was in the Beginning," -- but I particularly appreciate having examples of "female rage" art that don't only depict white girls/women

because while I love this kind of art, especially in film, I never see myself in it. we have reached a point where female rage can be glamourized or celebrated...to a certain extent. the rage of women of colour is still largely used to justify apathy or even violence against us -- and I've yet to see it explored in mainstream media the same way regular, unlabled (and therefore white) female rage is

any way, back to johnson -- my favourite examples of her writing aren't just about women in general - they're about Indigenous women resisting the forces of sexism, imperialism, and religious violence in 19th century Canada

however...there's still more to think about

Johnson was half-white, came from a very finanically privileged background and was thus able to use both of those to her advantage white navigating white spaces. In her live readings where she wore "Indian" costume - essentially an amalgamation of stereotypes from a variety of first nations -- you could argue that she was intentionally playing into audience expectations only to subvert them by returning in her white/european clothes -- but you could also argue that she was playing into the shock value of the transformation and somewhat legitimizing the audience's perception of Indigenous cultures as exotic, homogenous, and non-specific.

she was aware of the audience's often overly-simplistic interpretations of her work though and wrote about them, saying "I could do so much better if they'd only let me"

and yeah, that's all I've got for now. Should be working on my actual school work but I'm more interested in this right now.