HEY MAMA, DIANA, WHERE YOU AT?
HEY MAMA, DIANA, WHERE YOU AT?
This is about a struggle against a tapestry.
I once saw a 20’ x 20’ depiction of a swan between Leda’s legs.
God, it bothered me.
Then there was Diana and her hounds, the culprit’s daughter.
That bow.
That arrow.
I guess I felt comforted.
This exhibition is a reaction against the way women are portrayed in Western mythologies, namely the story of Leda and the Swan. In this myth, Zeus, in the form of a swan, seduces or rapes Leda. I want to create and then destroy that transformation. I want to construct and then deconstruct any notion that women should be subordinated, whether it is said to be through seduction or rape.
I look to Diana, Zeus’ daughter for support. Diana, the goddess of the hunt, the moon, and birthing. She is associated with animals, the forest, and the power to talk to and control fauna. She is also the vengeful protector of wronged women, serving justice with an arrow.
Both of these stories are fabrications.
Diana will not save us.
Performers: Frances Cannon, Candida Pagan, Heidi Wiren Kebe, Rebekah Chappell, Brooke Robinson, Kate Running, Alice Gribbin, Destiny Washington, Laurel Tuggle, Madelyn Lorenzen, and Melanie Swihart
Photos courtesy of Derek Blackman