Welcome to the Goddess of Many Arms- My New Blogpost!
What do you do?
I’m guessing a lot.
The old truisms still apply-
“A woman’s work is never done”
“If you want to get something done, ask a woman”
We are busier than ever, with our careers, home-lives, relationships, self-care, political activities, educations, socializing, medical care, pet care, exercise, spiritual/religious, cultural activities, civic duties. It’s rare that we sit down, except perhaps in front of our TV sets, where we can zone out and give our brains and bodies a break.
Yoga and meditation sound nice, as does having a healthy diet…those take discipline, don’t they. I am a frequent dropout when it comes to those activities.
When I think about my own life over the years and now, I can honestly say that I try to do all of the above, as well as create time for some beauty or magic for myself, or others.
Although I no longer work full-time or have responsibilities for caring for children or older relatives, I am still swamped for time. My calendar easily fills up with things I want to do and those that I must.
So after pondering this modern dilemma, I came up with the idea of the goddess of many arms as the title for my Blogpost.
She is based on one of many Indian goddesses who I had the pleasure of exploring while co-teaching in India, this past February. As I began to move to the goddess Pavrati, I became enamored of the fact that she had so many arms.
She seemed the perfect symbol for women across the world. In my travels, I have seen them everywhere, carrying water, branches, and food on their heads, walking for miles to their homes to prepare meals, feed, clean, care for others. So much, too much is expected of women in many cultures.
I wanted my blog to reflect this fact and the honor the millions of things that women do on a daily basis all over the world. I wanted to call them/us goddesses, emphasizing their grace, beauty, power and capacities in ways that lift them above the daily grind of things they/we have to do. I realize that my perspective comes from a very privileged perch; where I can say this, presume this.
We have to start somewhere and I do hope that your contributions with expand my vision and that of others. I welcome you- the goddess of many hands into this space.
The ReDress Project
I've just returned from a 6 day conference of IEATA (International Expressive Arts Therapies) in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The image above was in a photo exhibition at the Museum of Social Justice, also in Winnipeg. The ReDress project was created as a living memorial to the thousands of First Nation( indigenous) women and girls who have gone missing, raped, abused and murdered. This is a very real phenomenon in Canada and especially in the Winnipeg area, where more than 40% of the population is First Nation, meaning that they belong to a tribe of either Cree, Ojibway, Matie, Danee, Inuit, Lakota, or Ojicree. ( I hope I got this right).
I was stunned by this statistic, though I should not have been, given that women are abused all over the world.
The ReDress project seeks to hang a red dress for every woman, victimized and not brought to justice. This is a national shame which is being addressed, which might give some, some hope. While I was there, the government also proclaimed Oct. 4th as a National Remembrance Day for these women.
I applaud the activist artists who created this installation project. It's what we do as artists. Another amazing artist KC Adams, spoke to us about her billboard photos which aim directly at dispelling stereotypes about First Nation men and women. Powerful work.
What would you like to do?
Send me your ideas and thoughts!!