An exhibition
of formalist objects in various sizes and media, and in various configurations,
relating to parts of the body—e.g. breast, tooth, phallus—or
feminine symbology.
The purpose
of the show was to explore my experience as an older woman and to contribute
to the growing vocabulary of feminine forms in art
It has been observed that in later life, men become more “feminine”
and women more “masculine”, that is, men shift from being warriors
and hunters to priests and shamen. Women become more aggressive, self-assertive
and analytic, less emotional and more domineering—less “feminine”
than younger women. They describe themselves as more robust and energetic
and less concerned with the effects of aggression. They also become more
self-critical. According to Jung, the man discovers his tender feelings
and the woman her sharpness of mind. Gail Sheehy in Passages describes
this after-50 attitude as “no more bullshit.” Depression and
anxiety, more commonly experienced by women than men, decline in later
years in psychologically healthy women as they find their source of self-worth
outside of mothering.
My
work is informed by Jungian theory, in particular Erich Neumann’s
book The Great Mother in which he describes natural and manufactured
forms associated with the archetypal feminine (the “Great Round”
or “Great Container”) such as the female body, seeds, shells
and coverings, nests, caves and mountains, boxes, boats, etc., and the
feminine transformation mysteries which are grounded in physical, material
processes such as baking, brewing, sewing and alchemy.