I continue a theme of female identity from a global perspective and ask the viewer to think about women and their role in work.
This concept has became more real as I have investigated �The Tao of Women� a secret language (Nu Shu) used by Chinese women because in the 1950/60's only men were allowed to read or write. It describes the craft of women, the labour of women, the knowledge and the work of women. Following an extended visit to India 2006/7 I began to relate more to the hardship and plight of women working as I watched women walking to the well for water and especially the contrast between the beautiful and delicate colours and patterns of a rich society and the colours and patterns of women eking out a meagre living in the Rajasthan Desert. Their identity is limited by adversity however they weave, they spin, they quilt, they cook, they sing, they sew, they paint (their houses), they work, and they walk.
My images are therefore contrasts between the 'prettiness' and the 'hardship' of the female identity, sometimes broken or hidden, sometimes figurative but often patterns as metaphors for women's work. I wish to highlight the existence and value of the female identity. I feel obliged to raise issues of the women's position, past, present and future in a global context of paternal dominance of political societies where inequalities still exist. I 'sneak in' the female perspective, the contradiction between the issues v patterns, the light and dark (as in sinister), the beautiful v broken and that it is 'not all is seems?'
India
