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Tuesday, February 19, 2008

damn feminists, Jennifer Linton



"For those readers who are not familiar with this tragic event (Montreal Massacre), I'll briefly explain: on December 6, 1989, a lone gunman entered the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, Quebec. He walked into an engineering class at the school, where he produced a rifle. He ordered the female students to separate themselves from the male students, cursed the women as "damn feminists," then commenced firing upon the group of women students. Before he finally turned the gun on himself, he had killed 14 women.

This event had a deep, profound effect on me. In my mind, as in the minds of many other women, this was not merely the act of a sick, crazed individual. It was a symbol of a sickness that festers silently in our culture. A sickness often demonstrated through violence towards women."
(o texto todo, aqui)



Jennifer Linton, que tenho agora em exposição, é uma artista canadiana que se afirma feminista. Não feminista no sentido histórico do termo, a atitude quase bélica e exagerada que se tornou cliché e em que se pensa com desdém e troça, mas um feminismo reactualizado e presente: as mulheres continuam a não ser iguais em todos os cantos do mundo, a maior minoria.

O seu próprio corpo, a sua cara, são por onde passa tudo o que faz. As imagens refletem a vida: a vida como mulher, o corpo, a moralidade, os valores, a maternidade, a infância e os seus mitos. Aspectos da vida quotidiana, leia-se anti-épica, normalmente associada às mulheres, mas que se infiltra hoje na arte e na escrita de homens que tomam para si essa nova visão do mundo, possível apenas muitos milhares de anos decorridos no caminho da evolução.



Posso dizer que Jennifer Linton não é genial, nem a vejo assim. Mas gosto das cores, gosto de algum desenho, gosto dos retratos e os seus temas são os meus.

"I can't even imagine of how women with small children cope, period! Though I believe that if the desire to create work is strong enough, then a person will somehow manufacture time to do it. Even if it's only 30 minutes at night, while the children are sleeping. Myself, I have a husband and one cat. Quite frankly, I question whether I can have a family and dedicate as much time as I need towards my art. I don't spend enough time making art as I'd like at present. I'm reminded of the Guerrilla Girls poster that hangs in my home studio. With their usual acerbic wit, the Girls have listed the 'Advantages of Being a Woman Artist', which includes: "Having the opportunity to choose between career and motherhood."



E deixo o velhinho texto das Gorilla Girls, desactualizado, actualizado.

The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist:

· Working without the pressure of success.
· Not having to be in shows with men.
· Having an escape from the art world in your 4 free-lance jobs.
· Knowing your career might pick up after you're eighty.
· Being reassured that whatever kind of art you make it will be labelled feminine.
· Not being stuck in a tenured teaching position.
· Seeing your ideas live on in the work of others.
· Having the opportunity to choose between career and motherhood.
· Not having to choke on those big cigars or paint in Italian suits.
· Having more time to work when your mate dumps you for someone younger.
· Being included in revised versions of art history.
· Not having to undergo the embarrassment of being called a genius.
· Getting your picture in the art magazines wearing a gorilla suit.



Myth and Transformation
St. Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins

---
Ironically, this and other texts easily find their justification. A different Jennifer Linton, in a different part of the world, none less "civilised", had a much different fate:

"Evil Parasite Jailed for Life

A MAN who brutally killed his prostitute partner has been jailed for life and told he must spend at least 17 years behind bars.

Omar Jawanda murdered 28 year old mother- of-three Jennifer Linton in the Aldridge flat where she entertained the majority of her clients.

The 29-year-old was a "sponging parasite" on Miss Linton who was earning £87,000 a year from the sex market and she wanted to end their relationship.

Judge Frank Chapman told Jawanda that Miss Linton had degraded herself in her chosen profession, but it was clear she was doing all she could to provide a better lifestyle for her children.

"You were enjoying a free ride by attaching yourself to her," he told Jawanda at Wolverhampton Crown Court."

(March 2007)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bom post
FC

Anonymous said...

The paradox of natural mothering
Anonymus

 
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