Femme Power, 2020
Femme Power is an expression of female observations, exploring the notion of erotic living and connection to nature. The work is inspired by the representations of the dual nature of the female psyche as referenced in Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ Women Who Run With Wolves. It explores the various seasons within a female cycle, the seasons that completely alter our existence - our winter phase of menstruation, the spring of our follicular phase, the summer of our ovulation and the autumn of our luteal phase. For some women, each season holds different experiences, from our desirable Spring time to the heaviness of our winters. Women are complex, they can be kind and soft to emotionally fragile, harsh and jealous - each of them so powerful, all so wonderful - this is my reference to the dual nature of women. When you study the female cycle you gain knowledge in why you might be feeling certain things at certain times, the days where everything makes sense and life feels full and connected, your body might feel sensual and in touch with your needs, or the days where we just can’t get anything right, our body lacks vitality and our self-confidence is at an all time low. In Vagina Naomi Wolf speaks of the Goddess Array, the Goddess Array is a set of behaviours and ways of being which activate a woman into pleasure and arousal, but also support her wellbeing in life. In Vagina. Wolf writes about the brain-vagina connection, we release hormones when we are stimulated, the hormones have an effect on the body. She references the psychology of orgasm, when we orgasm we have a psychological shift that occurs, a release of anxiety, self-consciousness, self regulation and restraint.
The basis behind the project seeks to implore aspects of the dual nature of women. This duality of the female nature speaks to the inner and outer sides of women. Women have been brought up to put other people’s needs above their own, we have suppressed our hopes and desires in order to help other people succeed, as well as being afraid to show our wild selves, as drawn on in Women Who Run With Wolves. I am perceiving this notion by showing the dual sides of my creativity, through moving image and drawing, the dual sides of female emotional states, the dual sides of our moods and within this duality I am showing the “mystery of two powerful feminine forces within a single woman.” (Estés, 2003)