Just the other day I went to Skirball Cultural Center to see about the exhibit "WOMEN HOLD UP HALF THE SKY."
I strongly suggest you do too.
This exhibit was emotionally stirring. It also re-excited my long felt feminism. The focus was on women in Africa and India and other 3rd World Countries but are those women so different that we in the United States?
The presentation is of light, airy sculptures that hold women's wishes which hang for long stretches above you . Or you can focus on a sheet screen while simply listening to the recording of womens voices.
You can write out your wishes for women you know on blue paper leaves which will be integrated into the airy scuptures or using a code on a computer that you're given when you come in, to move more Skirball money into micro-loans that can make a major difference in a woman's ability to support herself. thus participatory art also allows you to be an activist. How does that feel?
Subtle in presentation, there are the also the horrible statistics which do bring the issues of women not getting the medical care they need, or the educational opportunities, or being respected by their own husbands closer to home. There were also tributes more folk art by nature, to women who had died in childbirth.
Every ninety seconds another woman dies in childbirth in this world. There are estimated to be 10,000 women held in slavery (mostly as domestics) in Los Angeles alone. This slavery is not to be confused with the sexual slavery and sexual trafficking in which a hundred thousand mostly young and often innocent teenagers, are sold and forced into prostitution here and around the world. Los Angeles is a prime intake and movement place for these sexual slaves.
Also on exhibit at the Skirball are a few pieces about women and domestic violence, some testimonial in nature.
Here is a quote from one of those pieces. "Real love can be felt in the heart. It cannot be pounded onto our bodies."
THE LINK TO THE EXHBIT, which includes donors such as Dermalogica, DNA Foundation, and The Women's Center Los Angeles, is above.
