A s I entered Janus Falls’ exhibit at the Kondor Art Center, I found that I instinctively began on the left side rather than her intended right. I mention this because I think it may have given me a slightly different and fortuitous perspective of her synthography. So, because of this, my visit began with an excerpt from William Blake’s poem “The Auguries of Innocence” — probably the most well-known lines. This poem’s title is also the title of Janus’ exhibit.
To see a World in a Grain of Sand,
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.
Under the excerpt, Janus defines augury as “a sign of what will happen in the future.”
As I wandered through Janus’ dramatic and beautifully “imagined” portraits, with Blake’s poem still on my mind, I followed what I understood as snapshots of a woman’s life. In each portrait, the woman is dressed similarly in a dark cape and hood. Her cape fits her tightly in visually difficult episodes like in “Flee” and “Loss,” and then gradually loosens as the synthographs progress in “Escape” and “Finding Freedom Within.” Her cape so skillfully acts as a metaphor for the emotion of each photo. When she feels fear, her cape is more restrictive and as she eases toward freedom, her cape flows around her.
Because of the continuity of her cape in each photo, I didn’t even question whether or not it was an image of the same woman throughout the exhibit. However, I was surprised when I noticed that her face is different in almost every photo. Even her ethnicity changes. What a powerful and clever way of representing her as every woman! Her depicted experiences immediately became mine. And yours. She symbolizes us all.
As I began to identify with the woman, Janus’s purpose for pairing of her photos with Blake’s poignant poem clicked. She communicates the interwovenness of humanity – how every one of us experiences feelings of loss and pain, as well as happiness and freedom, to varying degrees. (A later verse in Blake’s poem reads, “Some are Born to sweet delight, and some are Born to the Endless Night.”) Through Blake’s poem, Janus also expresses the interconnectedness of everything around us – humanity, animals, insects, wildflowers etc. Actions have consequences that effect every single atom on earth – alive and not. One person’s selfishness or thoughtless act causes a shockwave of pain. That person may act carelessly, unconcerned about the negativity they’ve set forth, but their “innocence” — or ignorance — is that they don’t yet understand that the pain they cause ultimately affects themselves too. The same is true of the kindnesses and love they put forth. Those “innocents” also perceive that they are alone in the experience of their suffering. The less “innocent” have learned that we are all one organism sharing existence — the sorrowful or joyful — simultaneously together.
The exhibit, in essence, seems to be Janus’ visual representation of Blake’s humble offering of his idea of the meaning of life.
I reached the end of the exhibit (which was meant to be the beginning) and, it may just be me, but I found it curious that the exhibit moved around the room from right to left — like we would read Arabic or Hebrew — as opposed to left to right. Could this be a nod to Blake’s deeply held Christian beliefs and his rejection of the man-made Church of England’s doctrine for the genuine and unadulterated biblical truth? Maybe!
It was there I read that Janus was inspired by the diary of a 16-year-old girl who suffered loss due to war – a story that is sadly a current and common one. However, just as Blake’s poem doesn’t leave us hopeless, neither does Janus’ exhibit. The girl/woman finds hope and freedom at the end. For me, this relates to an important stanza in the poem that may be the keynote to Blake’s “auguries of innocence,” or his prophetic message.
At this stanza, the structure of Blake’s poem changes from the rhythm of rhyming couplets to a monorhyme. “It is right it should be so / Man was made for Joy & Woe / And when this we rightly know / Thro the World we safely go.” Blake is telling us that joy and woe are simply a part of every existence on earth, and to expect both pain and joy and embrace them both as our proper, divinely intended experience of LIFE. Not all sorrowful events are caused by maliciousness. Not all happy surprises are caused by munificence. But certainly the more joy we make, the more joy we will share and receive in return. And as Janus writes, “One can only hope that humanity begins to learn from its mistakes.”
And maybe the meaning of life really is as simple as being able to see the World in a Grain of Sand.
– Angela Thespian
Last month we took a glimpse of the exhibit from artist and curator Scylla Rhiadra at Factory Art Collection Gallery at SLLU titled ‘Yes, Her.’ This month I get to talk about the themes and artwork in greater detail with Scylla as we reconnect. This show came at the perfect time for me. Mentally, it felt like seeing the photos of empowerment for women helped me connect and relate to the artists and millions more women worldwide who may have needed that visual alignment in their power. That reminder that we are not alone and there is beauty and joy in us. It is organically within us.
Kairi Cristole: In your Curator’s Notes, you describe how this project began. Will this be a continued showcase as there is a need for a more visually positive representation of women’s topics?
Scylla Rhiadra: I don’t know that we’ll continue with this particular theme, although I am hoping to keep this up for most of the summer. The FAC gallery is intended generally for, well, “political” art. And for me that most often means women’s issues. So, it will feature in the future other exhibits that also address those, and other social justice issues that generally overlap with feminism.
Kairi: Good to hear. I mentioned it before, but this exhibit came right on time for me. Have others reached out to express what this exhibit has brought into their lives?
Scylla: Oh yes! One of the nicest things has been the feedback. I’ve had other exhibitions that were more, well, “lucrative,” if you like — that sold more art. But I’ve seldom had one, with the exception maybe of Virtual Toxic, that has generated as much generally positive comment. I think that most women right now really feel the NEED for some positive energy.
The personal is the political, as they used to say in the heyday of the 2nd Wave, and most of us are in the trenches day after day, feeling the backlash so intensely because it IS personal. A positive spin isn’t just political in the conventional, abstract sense, it’s life-affirming and healing, and very personal.
Kairi: Yes! Completely agree because I’m her! My eyes needed these images and the messages conveyed, I needed to see them.
Scylla: Well, as did I. This came out of a very personal place.
Kairi: While curating this exhibition, what current events or feelings sparked some of the choices for the talented artists’ works displayed?
Scylla: I don’t think I had any particular recent developments in mind, in part because one of the points of this exhibition is to be pro-active rather than reactive. So, rather than ask someone who, for instance, I know to be a fierce advocate for reproductive rights, or trans rights, I looked for women who were both really positive in their understanding of womanhood and also talented photographers. Fortunately, I know a lot of women who fit into that category. But the idea was definitely, not to ignore current events exactly, but not to let them guide, or distort, our own views and approaches.
Kairi: I admire that the most. This showcase did not leave me feeling hurt or angry at the state of matters. Instead, I felt seen. It also came with the feeling that I’m not the only person who was meant to experience that feeling.
Scylla: The background is obviously political. In the US, in Britain, in Iran, in Afghanistan, etc. I just didn’t want that noise to overshadow the voices of these women.
Kairi: Beautifully said. The thought and focus you created for this exhibit certainly leaves me feeling more at peace with my thoughts, and feelings. More connected in my relationship with myself if that makes sense.
Scylla: Oh good! I’m really pleased to hear that! Because ultimately that will give us more strength. In the final analysis, that’s what we need. It definitely makes sense. We need to know who we are and be comfortable with that knowledge, to face the challenges we are undoubtedly facing right now.
Kairi: When I view pictures like ‘A Wonderful Puzzle’ by Onceagain, it makes me think not only of the many pieces to me, but I see all the other women in my life that have many things that make them complete.
Scylla: YES! I think of it a little as creating a beautiful harmony from discord. Taking all the kaleidoscope elements of ourselves and making them work together in a rich way. So much of what we are hearing, and facing, these days is reductive. Most of it boils down to reducing women to our biological essentials. And we are all SO much more than that. Onceagain is a WONDERFUL artist, and she caught that I think especially well. She was someone I knew would produce a complex and rich response to my prompt.
Kairi: That is heavy ‘biological essentials’ and perfectly describes how it feels.
Scylla: I think Saskia Rieko’s “Moods” covers the same terrain, from a slightly different angle. And, again, captures it beautifully.
Kairi: ‘Moods’ was affirming because there are so many moments where my mood changes. Instead of it being seen as negative, I love that she shows the portraits in bright lovely colors and the expressions flow as the face stays in the same position.
Scylla: Yes, and all valid, all potentially empowering, if we can accept and control them to the degree that they become parts of that larger sense of who we are. Sadness, anger, joy — they are all powerful.
Kairi: I walked around this gallery in joyful tears, seeing myself reflected in each piece. ‘Strong Enough to Cry’ by Laurel Aurelia was the first to hit me directly in the chest. For the past two years, I’ve been so angry at myself for being ‘weak’ and crying. This picture told me that our tears are not a sign of weakness.
Scylla: Yes, seeing oneself reflected in a work of art is part of what it does so well. It shows us ourselves, but it does so in ways that underline our relationship with others. I love how she both represented vulnerability but abstracted it enough that we could examine and think about it. It would have been so easy to have done a picture of a woman crying. And yes, we all would have responded empathetically to that.
Kairi: Yes, the tears being diamonds, something precious, something valuable, and strong. Her face is not contorted in pain, she is aware of her tears, and they do not look to be making her ‘lesser’ in any way.
Scylla: No, she’s looking straight out, almost defiantly, at the viewer.
I’m happy to contribute to something that truly came into my path in my own time of need. In sharing this I hope this reaches anyone that could benefit from the support this exhibit provides. Many thanks to the wonderful women who are a part of ‘Yes, Her.’ You are healing us all by sharing your unique perspectives.
– Kairi Cristole
Women and Art in Second Life: The Artistry of the Avatar, Part II
Continuing the discussion from last month, we go deeper into the interrelationship between women and art in Second Life. In the last issue of FOCUS, the discussion of women and art in SL took us into the realm of the avatar and its artistic aspects. Indeed, women had so much to say on this topic that two parts were needed. As a side note, there were a couple women who wished to remain anonymous. I will refer to them as Anonymous 1 and Anonymous 2. You’ll see in this series of discussions that the avatar itself is still a focal point for understanding women and art in SL, but the ideas are also much wider ranging than in last month’s article on this topic.
Without further ado, here are the questions I asked and the answers women gave: What is art in SL?
One artist who’s been featured before in FOCUS, TerraMerhyem, said that, “Art is a concept in itself, an emotion, an exaltation and an emanation of oneself in SL or RL. It is linked to a creative impulse in the artist. In other words, no creative impulse, no art. The essence of art is this creative impulse. Simply put, art is art. It’s a luxury and not necessary for survival, but nevertheless indispensable for the quality of life. It’s there and it provokes and solicits emotions (positive or negative). I would wither if I found myself sent into a world without art.”
Thus, between art in SL and reality, the differences are few and based only on the tools used. A lot of art in SL is nothing other than reproductions of art created in RL: scans of photos, pictorial works made in real life with real life tools—pencils, paint, etc. In SL, instead of brushes and chisels, we use software to paint and sculpt. Art, within the logic and limits of the tools used, always remains the projection of the artist and delivered to the public here or in reality. Art for SL requires computer tools and a sufficient mastery of these digital techniques, and some artists have become masters in the use of these tools.
Fae Dowling insists that, “the glory of art in SL, is that it is literally everywhere. Not only is everything around us created by the citizens of SL: furniture, buildings, clothing, even the sky, but the means of communication—the use of written language to interact in itself, is art. Second Life, in pieces or in totality, is art.”
Elske Kolbu says “art is a way to express your feelings. What is hidden inside your soul and can’t be expressed in another way. I see art in SL in many forms: avatar design, clothing, even my silly mugs I make from the build tools. I can’t always see things hidden in my soul, but I know in SL there’s a chance to discover new things.”
How do you understand the relationship between woman and art in SL?
TerraMerhyem: “In RL and SL, a woman can be interested, motivated, enthusiastic about art. Or she can be indifferent, non-receptive, blind to it, or pretend to be interested for a while and then not approach it anymore. She can be creative and artistic, or not. If there is anything to say about this, the only thing that comes to my mind is that there is much too much art representing women in the images exhibited in SL with variable artistic and imaginative qualities: the woman seems to be a particularly frequent model and can become banal, or lacking in originality, as a result. I don’t know if this is related to a greater presence of women artists in SL.”
Fae: “I do hope this is not a disappointing answer, but I do not see the relationship of women and art in SL as any different from the relationship between men and art in SL. To distinguish between the genders would be to acknowledge a disparity that I do not feel is there. There is the artist and there is art in SL. Both genders can create and display as they choose. This goes back to the question about the creator/operator behind the avatar. How can I say that women and art have a special relationship when there is no guarantee that the avatar that is female in appearance is, in fact, a woman?
Do you think that representations of women in SL affect women in RL?
Anonymous 1: Much like media does in the real world, art can cultivate (for better or worse) attitudes and expectations about women that, in turn, people adopt as “natural” gender essentialism or social norms. Personally, I vacillate between enjoying SL and finding it to be a cesspool. I often take breaks from it in order to re-adjust my sense of self back to more realistic standards. Since SL is, by definition, a fantasy world, even when it’s filled with “realistic” dive bars, parks, forests, etc., the prevalence of heteronormative hypersexuality can grind me down. I’m extremely glad I did not know about Second Life when I was a teenager. I would’ve had many more self-image issues, detrimental miseducation about healthy sex and relationships, and unrealistic expectations for what a satisfactory life could be — all which stem from how misogyny and transmisogyny permeate SL cultures.
Angela Thespian adds, “The relationship between women and art is much more sexualized in SL than RL. That’s fairly obvious to see. There are so many photos that would be considered porn in RL, yet some SLers have become desensitized and actually perceive them as moderate (which basically means acceptable for children with parental guidance) and sometimes even safe. I see artists reprimanded by Flickr all the time and they are consistently surprised and baffled. This distorted vision is such a strange social phenomenon and a huge reason why people outside of SL are hesitant to join.
I think the representation of women in SL is has a deleterious effect on women in RL, especially young girls. So many women in SL have the same bodies, the same heads, the same hair. The overwhelming majority are white and blonde. Women in SL porn are almost unanimously blonde with big boobs and men have monstrous penises. We’re promulgating the idea that acceptance comes from being sexually appealing and from conformity. The real you should be hidden.”
What’s it like as female SL artist?
Fae: There is no glass ceiling in SL. And in fact, women might be given more advantages in SL than in real life. As a DJ, I am often given more opportunity due to the sexualization of women. If an avatar appeals visually, then they are more likely to be viewed, visited, listened to than an unattractive avatar. Female avatars seem to have an advantage there.
I’ll conclude this vast and unending discussion by saying that over all, I believe Second Life seems to provide an empowering platform for women to express themselves. By offering a space free from many real-world constraints, women in SL have utilized the platform to express themselves, challenge conventions, and connect with like-minded individuals.
Women are shaping the virtual art scene, pushing boundaries, and embracing the limitless possibilities of the digital realm. Their contributions serve as a testament to the power of women and art in fostering inclusivity, empowerment, and social change — positively and negatively. And through their art, women in Second Life have also contributed to feminist discourse and social issues. Indeed, the impact of their work reaches beyond the virtual world, establishing a powerful connection between the digital and physical art worlds.
