Content
This self portrait uses subconscious imagery and imagery from life experiences to explore the issue of female aging and sexuality and how that connects to female power.There ia an element of fear of this power both on the part of subject and viewer. Women become more powerful as they age. Our sexuality is defined by our own needs rather than the needs of others or for procreation. Our focus in life takes on a broader perspective and we are more at home in our selves. We become the Wise Woman.
In American culture the aging woman is looked on as loosing her place in society. She loses her sexuality, her ability to reproduce and so she loses her purpose. With the advent of feminism in the 1970's aging women have been reclaiming their identities as wise women. In my own life I have been able to glean from the work of the women who have come before me but I am still apart of my society so I experience fear in claming my power as I get older. I experience the fear it brings out in me as well as others.
There is an energy and movement throughout the work brought on by the open composition used in placing all of the elements. All aspects of the drawing are moving off the page giving the viewer a sense of something larger, that there is more to the story. The movement of the snake and the hair give a vitality to the scene. It is not stagnant but a moving dynamic experience, anawareness. The energy of the open composition and movement as well as the close up quality contribute to this sense of discovery in the making.
I used charcoal and water to create this piece. I made marks with the charcoal tool and used water to blend and soften the marks. Most of the brush strokes remain visible so that it has a slightly impressionist or post-impressionist feel to it. This contributes to the work in the sense that the idea of movement and energy is continued on through the use of brush strokes and blending. There is an urgency here that adds to the searching quality of the work.
© Gabrielle Walters 1998
Art
58 | Digital Painting
Electronic Media | Department
of Art and Art History | CSU Chico