Femininity in a Three Part Sequence

 

I was approached by fellow local artist Gabriela Diaz with the opportunity to create hanging art pieces for All Eyes Gallery in San Bernardino. These hanging pieces to be showcased in the background for a February 28th Fashion Show that will have local designers and artists participate. The fashion show's theme; The Essence of Femininity. 

The show's objective is to touch on anti-machismo womanhood and how that presents itself in our current society. 

The theme on its own is all encompassing but I wanted to explore personally what femininity represents to me. 

So I got to work, and began to work on three separate pieces to be hung alongside the runway. 

At first when I thought of Femininity, I thought of Motherhood although that does not always equate to women or being feminine. Anyone who presents themselves as Femme can argue that it is not a part of everyone's story. 

When I thought of motherhood, I immediately thought of the Virgin Mary and what she represents in Catholic Faith. 

The first digital collage I worked on titled; A Mother's Dream. 

 

Raised Catholic, I have always had a feeling of love and appreciation for the beauty that taking on motherhood can contain. In the ability and desire to bring life into the world and raise them to create a more loving society. At least that is one of my goals in life, to inspire and aid in kindness to serve for a better tomorrow. That is also why I choose to work in early childhood and have been working in education since 2019. Because I believe everyone plays a part in creating a working and helpful society. 

Working on this first piece; I wanted the image of the Virgin Mary to be in the center of the layout symbolizing the center of the universe. The background itself is an image of beaded embroidery. Embroidery and sewing are creation, binding thread and patches to make something out of nothing. Working on this collage for a fashion show made it fitting to incorporate the materials that a designer might use. 

When editing, I wanted the sphere around the Virgin to be illuminating; almost glowing to further emphasize universal. 

The second piece I worked on titled; Building Life; Step by Step.

In this collage, I combined a plethora of images that represent different aspects of femininity. Tying together motherhood, I included a photo of an Indigenous mother and her child walking from behind wearing traditional clothing. The stairs tying together the building of life as bricks. Different stages and facets of what presenting as feminine might be. 

The more fragile aspects of what society can reduce femininity to; such as naive and fragile. Here I included an image of Little Red Riding hood and the big bad wolf.  And last but not least the egg, representing creation. 

For the last collage piece I created for the show; Reveling in the Truth of my Youth. 

I started with this piece physically first; I own a vintage book about a praying mantis that I love to collage out of. The images in the book are a black and white gray mixture alongside text about the bug itself. I used an image where the praying mantis is alongside a leaf and the roots spread out like wings.

I pasted a beautiful vintage woman in the center; this time to focus on how beauty is often expected from a feminine person. I collaged art sculptures of a young woman and an older woman to touch on ageism. I remember taking an Ageism in Literature class when I was in college that touched on the vulnerability of growing older. The discard for human decency for a lot of elders in today's society. The grueling expectation to always be young and beautiful even when time grants us wrinkles. 

Sometimes I think I am afraid of growing older, but I do it, everyday all the time. My face and body have gone through many stages these past 29 years. I have sun spots and freckles on my face I never had. And so I think there might be a time where I no longer see a younger part of myself. But the truth is, it is all real and happening at the same time. Child me and adult me exist in time, somethings have not changed much. But it is all an experience and so I hold on tight to that idea. 

Becoming older does not need to feel ugly but can be met with grace. And so this last piece on femininity is to enjoy the various phases that time allows. 

I am looking forward to viewing the various designs that fellow designers created this Saturday the 28th and to better understand their personal journey with femininity.