postpatriarchy-blog

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Kirstine Roepstorff - Desolation of the Beast - 2002 The work consists of flags and decorative tapestries sown together.  In addition to a range of national flags Roepstorff has also used banners bearing Arab, Asian, and Western motifs.  These include abstract and figurative images, showing logos or iconic figures from politics and popular culture such as Che Guevara and Bruce Lee.  The artist has scattered glitter and artificial flowers across the whole thing, printing statements of her own in between the flags.  The work explores the many and varied visual symbols that form part of our shared global culture.  Symbols with universal significance, such as the skull, or symbols denoting various allegiances, ideologies, and positions of power.  She represents these - traditionally masculine - expressions of power by means of techniques and materials conventionally regarded as "feminine".

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Each time we designate a time and place for present conversations, honest dialogue, and active listening, we are one step closer to #postpatriarchy. 

Last nights prompt: How do you embody masculine and feminine energy at this stage in your life and which do you want to cultivate more of? Here’s a visual representation of the process.

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Emily Wilson is the first woman to translate Homer's Odyssey. Her perspective infuses new vitality into the ancient text, where she tells the story of a man's journey from a woman's perspective. In the epic's first line, its hero Odysseus is called polytropos, a word that cannot definitively be translated from Greek. Stanley Lombardo went with "the cunning hero" and Robert Fagles chose "the man of twists and turns." Wilson verbally winks: "Tell me about a complicated man." It is a distinctly feminine choice, and a subtle laugh at the literary trope of the brooding, complex male protagonist. She does away with euphemisms, referring to the handmaidens in the poem much more directly; she calls them, accurately, "slaves." ⠀

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ According to E.V. Rieu's translation, Odysseus' father cries out, "What a day this is to warm my heart! My son and grandson competing in valor!" Wilson goes with "Ah gods!/ A happy day for me! My son and grandson/ are arguing about how tough they are!" Her female perspective enlivens the text, using comedy to shed light on the human condition, and a man's writing provides the framework. I wonder what our world would look like if this sense of cooperation and harmony between man and woman didn't stop with ancient translations. Well, it's a start. ⠀⠀⠀⠀

Thank you @debmalamud for sharing your vision of the #postpatriarchy

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“The Caliach” (Old Woman) “is the creator and shaper of the land in Irish and Scottish mythology... she’s also a very fierce guardian and protector of the land... from the days where the cosmological force of the universe in these countries was female... You will not find the Caliach in the New Mexico deserts but you will find the ‘old woman’. There is always an old woman everywhere in every land if you are looking for her.” Via @sharonblackiemythmakings on the Future Primitive podcast

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‘In a post-patriarchy world, I would think about what was behind the picture and not how I’m displayed in front.’ ‘In a post-patriarchy world, I would think about way more when I see these pictures than “back when I was beautiful”. ‘I can only imagine what all women, all beings, could do in a post-patriarchal world.’ 

- Jessie Duke - click here for the full story

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“It’s full of people who tap into themselves first before making assumptions of others, full of people who listen before speaking.... it’s a world that no longer equates softness with weakness. it’s a world that acknowledges the interconnectedness of all things rather than zero sum games” - Daniel N. Johnson

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Repost @debbiemillman // thank you for sharing @aminatou brilliance: 

"It is just not helpful to point out disparities and also be complicit in creating them... If you're around horizontally and you look at your peers you can put your resources together... If you don't accept the mentality of scarcity and you don't accept when you are a marginalized person or a minority, that anyone who looks like you in the workplace is your competition... you're actually gonna get very far... These are messages that capitalism and patriarchy tell you over and over again, there's only room for one of you, you're supposed to compete with each other and while you're competing for the scraps other people are building wealth, they're building the future, they're doing amazing things and if you just look around and just say actually we hunt in a pack, we are stronger, which I think is so true for women, you will get to where you're trying to get to so much faster.”

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The Guerilla Girls, an anonymous group of over 55 female artists fighting sexism and racism in the art world since 1985. That’s #postpatriarchy 

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In ancient pre-Judeo/Christian civilizations temples were built to honor the goddesses. The bulls head represented the female reproductive system, the source from which human life flows. There’s so much to learn of our future by understanding the past.

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We asked @pocomaspepe how he envisions a post-patriarchal world. He responded with this photo and an anecdote from that same day in Morocco:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

“So there’s this 6yr old girl here and her 8yr old brother. She took the chips away as he tried to eat, so he expressed his urgent disapproval, to which she scornfully imitated his words and added that the chips were to wait to be shared once everybody came to the table ..

She then walked away fearlessly and with full authority over these chips. Just the day before she was hiding behind me in fear of him coming after her angrily. I appreciated her stepping into her power, and that in her reasoning over taking the chips, she was on ready ground to fight back. I don’t believe she even conceived of any idea / assumed role or dynamic between them that should discourage her from doing as she wanted.”

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#PostPatriarchy is teens telling adults to shut up and listen. 

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Layne Redmond’s seminal work illustrates the pre-Judio/Christian matriarchal and goddess cultures that were prevalent in early city settlements throughout the Middle East and Europe. The women held frame drum and it’s powerful earth rhythms and traditions acts as a literal frame for pre and post patriarchal societies.

“At the end, as at the beginning, stands the archetypal power of the Divine Feminine - The Goddess. She is our future as she was our past. With her drum in hand, playing her sacramental rhythms, women can once again take their place in the world as technicians of the sacred. In the pulse of my drum, in the beat of my heart, I erect an altar to her forever.” - Layne Redmond 1952 - 2013

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Thank you Lady King Collage for sharing your vision of the post-patriarchal world with your piece ‘Women in Science’.

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This is the post-patriarchal world envisioned by the brilliant poet, teacher and writer Caroline Rothstein

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Thank you Betty Klaasse for sharing your powerful post-patriarchal vision.

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“The work of male relational recovery, of reconnection, of forming intimacy and making community can never be done alone. In a world where boys and men are daily losing their way we must create guides, signposts, new paths. A culture of healing that empowers males to change is in the making. Healing does not take place in isolation. Men who love and men who long to love know this. We need to stand by them, with open hearts and open arms. We need to stand ready to hold them, offering a love that can shelter their wounded spirits as they seek to find their way home, as they exercise the will to change.” - Bell Hooks

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Hugo Barros collages depict alternative worlds of wonder, color and inspiration. Perhaps this is a piece of what post-patriarchy looks like...