UNSPECIFIED – CIRCA 1987: Prehistory – Austria – Paleolithic – Gravettian – The Venus of Willendorf made of limestone. (Photo By DEA / E. LESSING/De Agostini/Getty Images)
Women Artists Are Channeling The Magic Of The Feminine Occult
Priscilla Frank covers KMAC exhibition “Sisters of the Moon” in her Huff Post article
According to archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, our earliest spiritual practices as humans revolved around a goddess creator figure known as Mother Earth, an all-powerful feminine force who embodied nature, fertility, creativity and destruction. Paleolithic figures dating back as far as 35,000 years ago, including the famed Venus of Willendorf, illuminate the fact that the earliest devotional altars were made to women.
Millennia later, although universal belief in feminine spirituality is no longer the norm, the spirit of the goddess creator lives on ― particularly through the vision and practice of feminist artists. An exhibition titled “Sisters of the Moon: Art & the Feminine Dimension,” now on view at the Louisville KMAC Museum in Kentucky, features the work of women artists who, in some way, have incorporated the eternal ideas of nature, spirituality, femininity and the occult into their work.
COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND PORTER CONTEMPORARY NYC Katarzyna Majak, “Enenna Wiccan Coven Leader,” 2011, Hahnemuhle photo rag
“There is an ancient spirituality that connects to the feminine divine, dating back to the Venus figurines,” Joey Yates, who curated the exhibition, told The Huffington Post. “These contemporary artists want to connect with this, through beliefs that have existed throughout most of our civilization in response to a more patriarchal view of God.”
The show features 16 women-identifying artists from a variety of backgrounds and belief systems working in a wide range of media. All grapple with the idea of feminine magic and what that looks like today. “I did also want to think about Western art and how it has been shaped by certain beliefs to look a certain way,” Yates added. “And us being an American art museum in Kentucky, there is always this dominant Western look. I wanted to include artists who can bring different perspectives, different than I would come to myself.”
Learn about 10 of the goddesses, witches, healers and artists featured in the exhibition below……….
Read Full Article: Here
October 15, 2016 – January 8, 2017
KMAC Museum
715 West Main Street
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
KMAC Exhibition: Sisters of the Moon
ON LOAN FROM PRIVATE COLLECTION Saya Woolfalk, “Untitled #2 from the ChimaTEK Series,” 2014, mixed media collage on paper
COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Lina Iris Viktor, “Syzygy,” 2015, 24-karat gold, acrylic and gouache, print on matte canvas
