Sunday, 13 September 2009

ON THE FEMALE BODY AS TRANSGRESSIVE ICON: ARTISTIC INTENTIONS VERSUS CRITICAL RECONTEXTUALISATIONS 11

Friday, April 24, 2009 3:17 AM
From:
"MARK DUNN"
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To:
tokem3000@yahoo.com
Dear Toyin

Some men of youth prefer far older Women, & when I say Older, I mean OLD! One of whom is a friend of mine; am I to judge his Desire & Attraction for Elder Women, whom of age could be his Grandmother & in turn their own Attraction for his youth. I have No right to do so, for as far I have noticed it isn't Sex for its own sake alone but deeper of meaning, which others in the main Consider Taboo; but what right have they to say so & if an Older Woman feels sexually desirable to a far younger Man, what be wrong with that, are they not Adults whom have the Choice to be mutually together in loving companionship...

A Psychiatrist might say that my friend suffers from a Mother complex desiring to be Mothered while an Older Woman needs to be all Maternal over a surrogate son, but such a perspective be simplistic & what right does the Psychiatrist or any other have to analyse or judge such desires; but of course they do, since they cannot grasp its reality themselves for they have other types of Complexes, which take on numerous forms betwixt & between Light & Dark...

Some women seek Independence within a Patriarchal society in order to be free of Male control, which is often wrought through Finance, which is understandable in a Society still dogged with the perception that a Woman stays at Home while the Man Works! However, there be women who want their Independence & still have the Man work for that is how they perceive Men; in other words they want their Cake as well as to eat it, but there be Men who only feel Male when supplying Cake. There are Men whom far prefer to stay at Home while their Female partner brings in the wages, while others work as a team, but by & large the underlying perception that a woman stays at Home with the Man working doggedly persists.

Now, lets cut to the quick, whether Feminists like it or not many of their Sisters like it that way who also want their Independence & should they not get what they want, there is one age old weapon utilised, which is usually that of Sex whose tap is turned off when there is no money in the house. One will no doubt find a Feminist get all flowery about it all to say such does not happen or that my own personal experience & that of observations is just sheer Sexist rubbish, but many a Male will say otherwise; a Feminist will attempt to wriggle her way out saying that the issue is far more complex of relationship dynamic since she will see where the argument is going... A Prostitute only offers Sex if there is Money crossing her hand; but of course such is a generalistion, yet I am often remided of a saying a Female friend of mine who is a staunch Feminist often to say, "If there is No Money in the House, Love Goes Out of the Window!"

Lets just say her Husband was worked to the Bone, while she attended College in order to be Independent climbing the ladder, but somebody had to pay the bills by grafting within a dead-end job! Was she subconsciously attempting to establish a hierarchy that her own Mother did not have, or to have copied? Who knows! Not my place to Judge! True Love requires two to tango in balance working together as a Team but it often does not work out that way!

Women do not like to be perceived as Sex Objects, which many a Man is so often told, yet when looking back over the vast epochs of Human history its Art to say otherwise; a Feminist may say that such Art forms are usually wrought by Men whom think with their balls to have no consideration for the deeper issues apart from sexual gratification, yet one has ancient Matriarchal Societies, which in the main produced the most Sensual of Erotic Art, while the Patriarchal Socities have a tendency to not only dumb down the Feminine but also to negate Sexual expression within its more austere Art forms; why do Patriarchal Societies bind the Feminine while negating Sexual expression? Is it because Patriarchal Societies Fear Feminine Sexuality, which does entice the Male away from Warring into Coupling instead!

Is one to look upon the Erotic Art of Ancient Greece, India, China & elsewhere whom indulged themselves within the Feminine to explore as merely being obsessed with Pornography? Or did the Erotic Art of the ancient world have a 'Sacred' dimension to it, whereby one cannot classify such Erotic Art as just being Pornography! But if one has no 'Sacred' dimension to ones own cultural Artistic expressions of austere patriarchal perception then one wouldn't know what the Sacred dimension of such art forms were, which covered areas both Dark & Light!

Some would admit that such ancient Erotic Art had a 'Sacred' dimension to it while others would consider it 'Profane'; both the Sacred & Profane are opposing faces of the same Coin crossing a Prostitute's hand whom was once considered to be a representitive of the Goddess within her Temple & she was not always young either for she has many faces fulfilling all desires.

Take Care

Mark Dunn

ON THE FEMALE BODY AS TRANSGRESSIVE ICON: ARTISTIC INTENTIONS VERSUS CRITICAL RECONTEXTUALISATIONS 10

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ON THE FEMALE BODY AS TRANSGRESSIVE ICON: ARTISTIC INTENTIONS VERSUS CRITICAL RECONTEXTUALISATIONS 9

Re: Fw: dartmoor
Thursday, April 23, 2009 10:20 PM
From:
"MARK DUNN"
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To:
tokem3000@yahoo.com
Dear Toyin

At the end of the Day one must make Choices... some of which as one knows can either Damn or Free, but it be ones own Choice...

One can paint a Picture of Choice in many a way, but if one Paints purely for others then one loses ones self in the Process for one No Longer has any Choices to make apart from those Chosen for one...

Along the way one Helps others & in turn Aided but the Truest Help comes from within ones own self of Inner Workshop from where one thence divines a Direction of Choice to take & whatever path to follow one is essentially alone...

I work with many a Media, whether Drawn, Pen, Pencil, Paint, Photograph or others, each to have their way of Communicating Ideas to cross-reference of experience, which flit between Light & Dark... I never Claimed to be a Saint, nor Guru, I stand on my own ground...


Take Care

Mark Dunn

ON THE FEMALE BODY AS TRANSGRESSIVE ICON: ARTISTIC INTENTIONS VERSUS CRITICAL RECONTEXTUALISATIONS 8

dartmoor
Thursday, April 23, 2009 9:31 PM
From:
"Seventh Wave Music"
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tokem3000@yahoo.com

Dear Toyin thank you for your long reply - I do appreciate that you have taken the time to respond with such detail to my email. I think the issue here is that I am not at any stage intellectualising or analysing the images that I paint (and it is important that they are paintings, and not photos which are by their nature more objectifying of the model) - these are simply works of deep prayer. I have spent many years working with women politically and spiritually in many countries to explore ways of empowering and strengthening lives, self-image, awareness, creativity and effectiveness. I do not see any place within that journey where pornographic images serve or honour women. I agree that Toad represents an even more profound taboo that most contemporary pornography - but she is there as woman's guide and protector not as man's object of desire. I do not doubt the sincerity of your intent with your work - I am simply being clear that I would never agree to my work being experienced in the context of any comparison with some of the photographic images on your site. I take this position for the sake of all the women who share my work and who would feel ashamed or dishonoured by the images.

However I do wish you well and hope you find deep inspiration in your studies.
Carolyn


www.seventhwavemusic.co.uk

ON THE FEMALE BODY AS TRANSGRESSIVE ICON: ARTISTIC INTENTIONS VERSUS CRITICAL RECONTEXTUALISATIONS 7

Re: ON THE FEMALE BODY AS TRANSGRESSIVE ICON: ARTISTIC INTENTIONS VERSUS CRITICAL RECONTEXTUALISATIONS
Thursday, April 23, 2009 7:56 PM
From:
"MARK DUNN"
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To:
tokem3000@yahoo.com
Dear Toyin

Should one choose to fight from ones corner in regards to others perceptions of what is considered to be Pornography & the debasement of Women & what isn't, in Art, one will find ones self within an an all encompassing Conflict, which will Ostracise one from the Mainstream!

As one has probably gathered when investigating ancient Cultures, if perceived from a purely Western perspective, which I am afraid to say is heavily indoctrinated by a Judaeo-Christian ethos of Patriarchal perception, one will find raw sexuality being expressed in many forms, which was once considered by many a Westerner to be nothing more than being Pornographic & the product of the uncivilised Mind; however, when looking at such ancient art-forms it always includes the SACRED within its mythic expression. It was only up to the age of the Hippie Revolution that certain ancient art forms, which depicted the Feminine involved in gross sexual acts was considered otherwise than being Pornographic but that of a SACRED expression within the structure of its Mythological paradigm; this was only due to the informing Culture behind the Symbolism one to find in Tibetan Bon-Po Buddhist art, Hinduism & Tantra let alone that of other Cultural expressions, which now face extinction; not so much by Patriarchal Judaeo-Christianity, Islam or Judaism but by what one considers to be a New-Age perception of what is seen to be Politically-Correct.

There are Shadows, which need to be addressed & made otherwise Sacred of Realm in order to transform Lead into Gold; one cannot sweep such shadowy material under the Carpet otherwise it will fester! One cannot make everything all nice & sweet, to fit into a Politically Correct perception of Modern ideology that is very much the par of New-Age Spirituality, which in essence is really that of Dualistic Gnostic-Christianity seeking out a balance, but in reality it is Infertile let alone Impotent of the Barren & Castrated & always has been so of the Celibate whereby it is Not & never was of the New-Age.

The Modern is devoid of the SACRED context; one cannot run away into Elder Cultures to live within the Past in order to negate what is around one of Wound. One has to Heal the Present Wound, by looking at how other ancient Cultures dealt with their Underworld Shadows in order to Transform them, but by doing so one has to face up to a salient Fact; that one has been Brainwashed & that one is at War! One is not only Warring at the front of the Symbolic, which is fed via the Media whose underlying Religious & Political structure has an agenda of ensnaring the Collective perception into an ongoing Dualistic Paradigm, one also has its physical chains to deal with too, which goes hand in hand with the other, for if one finds the Media Controlling the Minds of Others, it too Controls their Bodies in kind!

New-Age Art forms have nullified the artistic expressions of other Cultures into a fluffy perception let alone that of what is left over of the European & that of a process, which is repeating its self, that one can observe in hindsight when looking back prior to WWII; Adolf Hitler had his Entertete Kunst, which negated Artistic Expression into a set formula while his followers ran around wearing togas hearkening in a New-Age of purity weaving Myths of a prior Golden-Age, which Never Existed & was only that of a Political machination by indoctrinated Christian's; they upheld the purity of the Feminine to make puritanical Wagnarian but by doing so they cauterised her into a Virgin of none other than Mother Mary all over again to dance around!

Hinduism & Tantra accepts both the Light & Dark aspects of the Feminine to weave together into a SCARED Formula, which can be found in other ancient Cultures; however, they have the Symbolic expression to do so while Western Civilisation does Not, for it has relegated Sexuality into a dark shadowy corner to term Pronographic without the SACRED in sight.

As far as I am concerned, if an Individual reacts adversesly in regards a Nun being fused with Shielagh Na-Gig to perceive as being offensive, it just indicates that they are an Indoctrinated Christian; such an Individual may argue that such a fusion shows offense towards Christian's, but it be their History, which I am at War with for their Belief structure is highly Hypocritical, which has the blood of Millions etched out within their numbered palms. Such an individual may even argue that I am debasing the Feminine yet the Sheilagh Na-Gig opens wide her legs of gateway into the Womb Earth while a Nun be no different welcoming a Fish Amphibious of Spirit entering the True Church!

As an aside on a purely Mythological front, one has UFO entities manifesting within the psyche of the Collective from Nordics, to Orientals & Greys in general, but does one ever hear of an African, or has such been fused with a Caucasian to become a Grey? where does this Mythology of the UFO emanate from in the main? The USA mainly, which to have certain perspectives that birthed the Hippie era of LSD UFO's after 1947; the New-Age impetus stems from the USA in the main of primary vein & with it that of seeking out its roots at loggerheads with Elder Cultures; such ancient Cultures found ways of dealing with their Shadow so as to transform Creatively, alas the West is a long way behind...

Pornography has No SACRED Dimension to it... It is Purely Sex for Sex sake, which in its self is Not Bad for Sex is Life; as long as it Harms None, if so, it becomes Something else...

Erotic Art is about the Eroticsm of Life, but some will perceive it as being but Pornography while others will see it as Art; whatever meaning is applied, it is done so by the subjective observations of the observer & such does not neccessarily inolve anything being SACRED, whether Dark, Light or both simultaneous. For example, a Naked Woman entwined by a Serpent may conjure Symbolic Associations with Eve within one observer, whom will perceive a SACRED dimension in the Art, whether Dark or Light, while another just sees it as being Pornography & that of making the Woman into a Sex object etc...

One then has the Accepted Norm of depiction such as an Oil Painting of a Naked Woman entwined by a Serpent, which many would accept as being Art; if however it is that of a Photomontage utilising Imagery to make a layered point, such might be perceived as being but Pornography; in other words, we are Educated to Perceive Symbolic Stimuli in certain ways, if the Artistic expression utilises a mode of expression, which the masses are not Educated in they will invariably React...

If one depicts a Dakini in Classic Tibetan Buddhist stlyle then it is accepted by those in the know, which has become far more widespread of recognisable Art-Form since the Hippie era of the 70's; if however, one depicts a Dakini as a Nun then one will end up generating a Reaction from those who are Religiously Indoctrinated as well from those who can't perceive the Connection...

Some may question why one as an Artist depicts Women as a constant in ones Art.... One will answer, why Not, to also cross-reference with other symbolic-stimuli to make SACRED...

The whole point of Art is to Break Through Barriers of Perception, offering different Perspectives; but by doing so one often encounters those who will Not understand, Do Not want to Understand, Desire to Censor ones Works let alone Ostracise one, not because one is neccessarily flawed in ones work but because they have Not been Educated to See One yet, & perhaps Never Will until another Time to come when their Eyes open...

The depiction of the Hindu/Tantric Dakini let alone Kali was once perceived as being Poronogaphic, vile & extremely primitive by many a Victorian who also tore apart the Celtic Myths to turn into flowery shells to thence create the so called Romantic era of Artistic representation, which was all but sugar plum coating hiding the horrors of their own time behind...

One cannot bury Shadows for they do come back with a vengence, but one can Transform them inot something other SACRED...

Take Care

Mark Dunn

ON THE FEMALE BODY AS TRANSGRESSIVE ICON: ARTISTIC INTENTIONS VERSUS CRITICAL RECONTEXTUALISATIONS 6

Re: [WoleSoyinkaSociety] ON THE FEMALE BODY AS TRANSGRESSIVE ICON: ARTISTIC INTENTIONS VERSUS CRITICAL RECONTEXTUALISATIONS
Thursday, April 23, 2009 7:13 PM
From:
"Francis Abiola Irele"
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To:
tokem3000@yahoo.com
Hello, Toyin,

I'm not surprised by Carolyn Hillyer's reaction. As you know, I was also uncomfortable with the pictures and told you so. You might want to consider dropping that section of your blog.

Cheers.

Biola

ON THE FEMALE BODY AS TRANSGRESSIVE ICON:ARTISTIC INTENTIONS VERSUS CRITICAL RECONTEXTUALISATIONS 5

Thursday, April 23, 2009 4:41 PM
From:
"toyin adepoju"
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To:
"Seventh Wave Music"

Dear Carolyn Hillyer,
Good morning.



ARTISTIC INTENTION VERSUS PUBLIC RECEPTION AND RECONTEXTUALISATION

I read with a sense of pain your decision to decision to dissociate yourself from my project on the feminine. I am particularly puzzled by your description of your reason as an intention to control the contexts in which your work is presented so as to make sure the work maintains its integrity. This puzzles me because a fundamental fact about placing work in the public domain implies that, to a significant degree, one cannot control the contexts in which that work will appear. One might be able to do that with images, since possibly they are protected by copyright, but can one control whether or not a particular person talks about one, writes about one, places one in a discursive framework with others? I doubt it.

A problem would emerge if one were to be depicted as making a point significantly different from the one one was obviously making, and which misinterpretation distorts one’s message or is deeply offensive to one. The latitude of interpretive possibilities provided by imaginative work like yours, however, would make it difficult to reach such a boundary, objectively assessed by others who do not have stake in the maintenance of the original semantic purity of the work. The very fact of its being susceptible to reinterpretation in a variety of contexts is at the centre of art, as is evident in your creation of a mythological universe of your own.

Art is often understood as transcending the intentions of the artist, and this transcendence represents its character as an imaginative form, which in the words of Susanne Wenger,is given birth to anew within any responsive audience's imagination.

However, your objections to the contexts in which your work is thereby placed by such a project as mine are certainly very significant in relation to your understanding of your work and its relationship to the dignity of women which is central to your vocation. The tensions between your characterization of that work, as an expression of your vocation and the perspectives and contexts through which a critic like myself relates to your achievement, constitute a central site of inquiry which enriches ways of looking at your work as part of the tapestry of discourses and counter discourses that make up human communication, what someone has described, in relation to the texts that shape civilization as the "great conversation".

VALORISATION VERSUS DENIGRATION IN IMAGERY OF THE FEMININE: CONTRASTIVE PERSPECTIVES

I understand your profound discomfort with some of the images on my blog.I expect the images that elicited that response are those of Mark Dunn, from http://www.goetiagirls.com/index.html,whose art and writings I am also working on. If any others made you uncomfortable, I would be very grateful if you were to let me know. I find it sad, though, that I might not enjoy your cooperation in my effort to bring your magnificent work into dialogue with other conceptions of the feminine and how it may be presented.

MARK DUNN AND THE INTEGRATION OF PORNOGRAPHY AND SPIRITUALITY: THE EXAMPLE OF TANTRA

Ironically, even though Mark Dunn's work does integrate the pornographic ,he is actually operating at a complex intersection between the projection of the female body as subversive icon, a means of attacking patriarchal discourses which do not acknowledge the feminine, from Judaism to the magic of his central inspirational source, The Key of Solomon the King, and the feminine as an inspirer of desire, desire itself understood as an aspect of the transformations of consciousness that constitute his goal as a magician. I would hold the combination of the pornographic and the magical that his work embodies is best compared with the visual symbolism and techniques of consciousness of Tantra,as described, for example in Maddhu Khanna's Tantra,which,in their transgressing of boundaries, are not always found acceptable by more orthodox Hindu thought. Yet,I wonder if an adequate exploration of the role of the feminine and the masculine-feminine polarity in Hinduism can be completed without a study of the depth of engagement with such issues in Tantra.

The women in Dunn's work are meant to look erotically desirable, a quality that suggests their role as symbols of a technique of consciousness that engages the erotic as a driver for interaction with what he describes as inorganic intelligences who may yet emerge in embodied form. I realise that many women consider pornography disrespectful to women for many reasons, but I would hold that Dunn's work always portrays the magnificent beauty and power of the female form.

ON THE TRANSPOSITION OF TABOO IMAGES INTO IMAGES OF EMPOWERMENT IN THE ORACLE OF NIGHTS AND CLASSICAL YORUBA DISCOURSE

I would think that you would want to dissociate your use of an image, similar to what Dunn uses, in your depiction of the old woman you named Toad in your book The Oracle of Nights. I wonder, though, how far one could go with such a dissociation, if I might risk giving offense by making such a point. The depiction of old women in such a context I would understand as one of the oldest and gravest taboos in many of the world's cultures, a taboo in relation to nakedness and female procreative spaces that is often flexible with young women but is hardly, if ever, relaxed with old women. I expect that the reason for such an inflexibility relates to the closer association old women have with motherhood, paradoxically, since with the erotic element in abeyance in the associations of the old woman, the mind focuses on her as the representative of the other half of the life force that makes human existence possible. Along those lines, one could argue that your depiction of Toad is even more transgressive than any of Dunn's images of nubile women. At the same time, however, your use of the old woman in such an unusual visual context, in relation to her role as symbolic and incarnational guide along a passageway of awareness, if I am not misreading your intentions, operates in relation to a culture like the Yoruba, which evokes the image of the procreative spaces of the mother, of the old woman, in order to invoke the tension between taboo and expectation, between conventional associations of an iconic form such as the female body and the undercutting of such conventional thinking through taboo images that are thereby correlated with forms of dark power, of the ambivalence of creative and destructive possibilities the Yoruba associate with the feminine. I am not arguing that your depiction of Toad is identical with the Classical Yoruba integration of the erotic and the feminine. I am suggesting that as transgressive as your depiction of Toad might look, particularly in comparison with the more conventional visual work of Dunn,it can be understood to have a place in the continuum of symbolic representations of the female body, as it has emerged from another culture, which like many, if not others, others, sees the naked female body of the old woman as a taboo subject, not to talk of an image of the woman exposing a particular sensitive procreative organ in a gesture that could be seen as provocative, but which you intend as provocative, not in an erotic or offensive sense, but as an invitation to enter into realms of expanded possibility.

While recognising the differences between the depictions of the feminine evident in your work and Dunn’s, one could venture a correlation of the feminine as it emerges in the contrastive and yet complementary work of Dunn and yourself, nubile in Dunn,old in some aspects of yours, in terms of Susanne Wenger’s characterisation of the Orisa or deity Osun of the African Orisa tradition as described by Ulli Beier in The Return of the Gods: The Sacred Art of Susanne Wenger, “Ambivalently, Oshun [who, like Toad in The Oracle of Nights is identified with water, and like Toad and Mark Dunn’s female spirit ,Asmodaya,Pirate Queen of the Menstrual Blood Ocean , is correlated with the biological energies that enable feminine procreation] is both seen as the young woman, the velvet skinned concubine and as the ancient woman steeped in magic. She is the concubine, desirable and seductive-because her life giving force must be accessible to all” . She is also an embodiment of the primordial chthonic power, expressed in the life giving force of the earth, and the enigmatic potency that quickens the womb.

ON THE FEMALE BODY AS TRANSGRESSIVE ICON IN THE WORK OF CAROLYN HILLYER AND MARK DUNN:ARTISTIC INTENTIONS VS CRITICAL RECONTEXTUALISATIONS 4

Thursday, April 23, 2009 2:23 PM
From:
"toyin adepoju"
View contact details
To:
"Seventh Wave Music"
Dear Carolyn Hillyer,
Good morning.
I understand your profound discomfort with some of the images on my blog.I expect the images that elicited that response are those of Mark Dunn whose art and writings I am also working on.If any others made you uncomfortable,I would be very grateful if you were to let me know.I find it sad,though,that I might not enjoy your cooperation in my effort to bring your magnificent work into dialogue with other conceptions of the feminine and how it may be presented.

Ironically,even though Mark Dun''s work does integrate the pornographic ,he is actually operating at a complex intersection between the projection of the female body as subversive icon,a means of attacking patriarcal discourses which do not acknowledge the feminine,from Judaism to the magic of his central inspirational source,The Key of Solomon the King,and the feminine as an inspirer of desire,desire itself understood as an aspect of the transformations of consciousness that constitute his goal as a magician.I would hold the the combination of the pornographic and the magical that his work embodies is best compared with the visual symbolism and techniques of consciousness of Tantra,as described,for example in Maddhu Khanna's Tantra,which,in their transgressing of boundaries,are not always found acceptable by more orthodox Hindu thought.Yet,I wonder if an adequate exploration of the role of the feminine and the masculine-feminine polarity in Hinduism can be completed without a study of the depth of engagement with such issues in Tantra.

The women in Dunn's work are meant to look erotically desirable,a quality that suggests their role as symbols of a technique of consciousness that engages the erotic as a driver for interaction with what he describes as inorganic intelligences who may yet emerge in embodied form.I realise that many women consider pornography disrespectful to women for many reasons,but I would hold that Dunn's work always portrays the magnificent beauty and power of the female form.

I would think that you would want to dissociate your use of an image, similar to what Dunn uses, in your depiction of Spider in the Oracle of Nights.I wonder,though,how far one could go with such a dissociation,if I might risk giving offense by making such a point.The depiction of old women in such a context I would understand as one of the oldest and gravest taboos in many of the world's cultures,a taboo in relation to nakedness and female procreative spaces that is often flexible with young women but is hardly, if ever, relaxed with old women.I expect that the reason for such an inflexibility relates to the closer association old women have with motherhood,paradoxically,since with the erotic element in abeyance in the associations of the old woman,the mind focuses on her as the representative of the other half of the life force that makes human existence possible.Along those lines,one could argue that your depiction of Spider is even more transgressive than any of Dunn's images of nubile women.At the same time,however,your use of the old woman in such an unusual visual context,in relation to her role as symbolic and incarnational guide along a passageway of awareness,if I am not misreading your intentions,operates in relation to a culture like the Yoruba,which evokes the image of the procreative spaces of the mother,of the old woman,in order to invoke the tension between taboo and expectation,between conventional associations of an iconic form such as the female body and the undercutting of such conventional thinking through taboo images that are thereby correlated with forms of dark power,of the ambivalence of creative and destructive possibilities the Yoruba associate with the feminine.I am not arguing that your depiction of Spider is identical with the Classical Yoruba integration of the erotic and the feminine,.I am suggesting that as transgressive as your depiction of Spider might look,particularly in comparison with the more conventional visual work of Dunn,it can be understood to have a place in the continuum of symbolic representations of the female body,as it has emerged from another culture,which like many,if not others,others,sees the naked female body of the old woman as a taboo subject,not to talk of an image of the woman exposing a particular sensitive procreative organ in a gesture that could be seen as provocative,but which you intend as provocative,not in an erotic or offensive sense,but as an invitation to enter into realms of expanded possibility.

Finally,I would like to take the risk of addressing the question of the degree to which an artist,whose work is in the public domain,such as yourself,can control the contexts in which their work is discussed and the company the work is thereby compelled to keep.I won't pretend to understand all the issues fully,but it seems to me that once an artist's work is in the public domain,the artist has very limited control over the contexts in which a critic studies that work.Art is often understood as transcending the intentions of the artist,and this transcendence represents its character as an imaginative form,which in the words of Susanne Wenger,is given birth to anew within any responsive audience's imagination.

However,your objections to the contexts in which your work is thereby placed by such a project as mine are certainly very significant in relation to your understanding of your work and its relationship to the dignity of women which is central to your vocation.The tensions between your characterization of that work,as an expression of your vocation and the perspectives and contexts through which a critic like myself relates to your achievement, constitute a central site of inquiry which enriches ways of looking at your work as part of the tapestry of discourses and counter discourses that make up human communication,what someone has described,in relation to the texts that shape civilization as the "great conversation".

ON THE FEMALE BODY AS TRANSGRESSIVE ICON: ARTISTIC INTENTIONS VERSUS CRITICAL RECONTEXTUALISATIONS 3

Dear Toyin,
I have looked at your blog [ at http://wengerdunnmaltwood.blogspot. com/ ] and would prefer not to be mentioned or have any of our images involved in it. Partly this is because I choose to control the context in which my work is presented in order for it to maintain its integrity. Further I would not be happy about it being presented alongside some of the images you have chosen to include. For women there is a very fine line between images that celebrate our divine feminine and those that exploit - I feel that some of your photos cross that boundary and serve not to honour but to denigrate. Pornography remains pornography even when it is dressed up as art. I am sure that this is an issue that could be debated at length but I am going by instinct and do not feel comfortable being part of your presentation. I wish you well

Carolyn


www.seventhwavemusi c.co.uk

ON THE FEMALE BODY AS TRANSGRESSIVE ICON: ARTISTIC INTENTIONS VERSUS CRITICAL RECONTEXTUALISATIONS 2

RE: ENQUIRY ABOUT STORIES FROM SEVENTH WAVE
Thursday, March 26, 2009 10:16 PM
From:
"Seventh Wave Music"
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To:
tokem3000@yahoo.com
Dear Toyin I am answering this one as well! Your second book has been dispatched to you. PLease let us know when you wish to purchase the prints and music and we will do what we can to make a discount for you. Also we are interested to know about your future study in this area and maybe you will have the opportunity to visit one of our events here at the farm to experience first hand the work we are doing with best wishes Carolyn


www.seventhwavemusic.co.uk

-----Original Message-----
From: toyin adepoju [mailto:tokem3000@yahoo.com]
Sent: 24 March 2009 21:41
To: Seventh Wave Music
Subject: RE: ENQUIRY ABOUT STORIES FROM SEVENTH WAVE

Dear Nigel,
Thank you very much for your prompt and understanding response.
I will have to wait for the story publication to come out.I have bought the two books available.A friend bought them on my behalf with her card and we bought the second book a few minutes ago.The earlier one arrived promptly in excellent condition.

I am working towards integrating your work and Carolyn's into my PhD, and,in relation to my focus on transformations of female bilogical space and space in nature, Carolyn's images of women complement magnificently the focus of both of you on the land,since feminine imagery is easily correlated with landscape as has been done in many cultures.

I aspire to own all your work and when I can afford to buy it in bulk I could get on touch with you to discuss a discount.For the moment,since I have the available books I will move next to the prints and the music.It would be wonderful if I am able to discuss,images,ideas and music as emerging from your work.

I will let you know more about my plans as they develop.
Thank you.
Toyin

ON THE FEMALE BODY AS TRANSGRESSIVE ICON: ARTISTIC INTENTIONS VERSUS CRITICAL RECONTEXTUALISATIONS 1

RE: PERMISSION TO USE YOUR IMAGES AND ACCOMPANYING TEXT
Thursday, March 5, 2009 8:30 PM
From:
"toyin adepoju"
View contact details
To:
"Seventh Wave Music"


Dear Carolyn Hillyer and Nigel Shaw ,

Thank you very much for your prompt response.

My name is Toyin Adepoju.I am a PhD student in comparative literature and culture at University College,London.I find your work fascinating not only beceause of its intrinsic value but beceause it facilitates my efforts to appreciate the Western Esoteric tradition,particularly in terms of conceptions of relationships between the feminine,the earth,and the creative power understood to sustain the cosmos,described in Hinduism as Shakti and in the Nigerian-Yoruba Orisa tradition as Ase,both conceptions being linked in a distinctive manner with the feminine.

I expect your work will help me in the cross-cultural and interdisciplinary study in my PhD which compares images and conceptions of the feminine in Western and African spiritual art and thought,particularly the Glastonbury mythography of Katherine Maltwood,the shamanic grimoire art of Mark Dunn and the ritual art of th Austrian-Nigerian artist and thinker Susanne Wenger.

My first experience with your work in relation to my research was in an essay I wrote in an intercultural and interdisciplinary exploration of female biological spaces in the MA in European and Comparative Lioterary Studies I did at the University of Kent where I made a correlation between images of creative,fecundative space in relation to the feminine,understood in both biological and cosmological terms, as evident in the Chinse philosophical classic the Tao te Ching and your work on the album Cave of Elders.

I will always visit your site,but it could be useful to place your images and text side by side with those from other perspectives and cultures to better appreciate how they amplify and clarify each others.Thats why I am interested in the idea of the Facebook photo album and blogs where I am putting together similar conceptions,such as the work of the Celtic artist Courtney Davis. If I were to use your work,I would use it unchanged from its original presentation on your site,with clear attributions to you and with links to your site.
Thanks.
Toyin

ARTISTIC,BIOLOGICAL AND GEOLOGICAL PORTALS AS SYMBOLS OF TRANSFORMATION

The art and writings of the Austrian-Nigerian artist Susanne Wenger and the English artists and writers Mark Dunn,Katherine Maltwood, Jhenah Telyndru,Kathy Jones,Nigel Shaw and Carolyn Hillyer are centred in the transformation of space. These artists engage in visual and auditory transformations of space which are reinforced through their verbal conceptualisations of the rationale for and the character of these transformations.These artists engage in spatial transformations through their interpretation of landscape in cosmographic terms.

Susanne Wenger depicts the Osun forest in Osogbo,Nigeria as an expression of the Orisa cosmology first developed by the Yoruba in southern Nigeria.Katherine Maltwood, Jhenah Telyndru and Kathy Jones describe the landscape of Glastonbury in England as projecting the presence of archetypal and timeless forms,whether astrological and Arthurian,as with Maltwood,or Arthurian and feminine,as with Jones and Telyndru.Nigel Shaw and Carolyn Hillyer are inspired by the landscape of Dartmoor in England,an inspiration that emerges in their understanding of the landscape in terms of correlations between seasonal processes in nature and the progression of experience emerging from the conjunction between biology,psychology and the dynamism of human experience.These integrations are concretised in Hillyer's self created feminine mythic forms and drums and Shaw's self carved masks,totems, and flutes.Hillyer's feminine mythopoaeia embodies feminine biological rhythms,their conjunctions with natural processes and the vicissitudes of human experience. Her drums both symbolise and create the auditory rhythms that facilitate journeys of body and mind along paths that enable constellations of knowledge.Shaw's masks embody the raw power of the landscape,his flutes the senstivity of mind and senses through which the experience of the landscape emerges into musical and plastic form. Mark Dunn's inspiration is demonstrated in his integration of cosmic,terrestial and biological space in cosmographic terms, evoking what he describes as an Inorganic Feminine Intelligence, a correlation between spatial form and the feminine being a conception that could be understood as unifying the artists at various levels of explicitness and implicitness and of susceptiblity to metaphorical correlation.

A central motif that could be understood as unifying the oeuvre of each of these artists,and strengthening their correlations with each other,explicitly so with Mark Dunn and Kathy Jones,less explicit but nevertheless prominent with Wenger and Hillyer,and implicitly with Maltwood and Shaw,is the image of the portal as transformative space,particularly the portals constituted by the vagina and the womb.

Each of these artists interprets physical space in terms of cosmographic space,and cosmographic space in terms of physical space.In doing this,the image of the portal as a zone of transformation through an understanding of penetration through portals as both physical and psychological, emerges explicitly in the work of Wenger,Dunn and Hillyer.An understanding of the portal as transformative space can can be inferred in relation to the work of Shaw and Maltwood.

In Wenger's work,the image of the portal is related to an interpretation of landscape,sculpture and architecture in terms of biological space,and both the physical and the biological in relation to cosmographic space.Dunn projects biological space in terms of cosmographic form.Hillyer conceives of changes in female biological space as these emerge through time as synecdochal/emblematic of transformations of nature and its metaphysical subtrates.This understanding is reinforced by her musical collaboration with Shaw,whose music is inspired by lanscape and refers back to it,and which is developed in relation to the conceptual and visual themes of Birth, Hearth,Well and Source,which,in their archetypal resonance in relation to metaphoric interpretations of female procreative biology,suggest relationships bewteen the subjectivity emerging in the experience of landscape and the relationships of this with the experience of the development of life through gestative processes and the temporal space in which they take place.

Maltwood interprets landscape in the light of the cosmographic implications of the constellations.

The dialogue between physical space and the physical and subjective experience of space,as expressed by the various artists in words and images,is further transmuted by Shaw and Hillyer through the fluidity of sound.Their music integrates and transposes the experiences and themes that inspire their work,and which links their art with that of Wenger and Maltwood.Their music transcends verbal conceptualisation and imagistic suggestion to engage with their subjects in terms of the untrammeled nakedness of sound,reaching a particular concentration in music that is nonverbal,instrumental,or composed totally of sounds from nature.

The image of the portal plays a prominent role in relation to the spatial configurations in terms of which the artists work.The specific mode of emergence of this image differs with each artist in terms of the relationship the artist establishes with the material they work with.Wenger used cement and mud in creating sculptural and architectural forms in which portals are prominent and creates at least one portal which explicitly evokes female procreative biology,a gate she names the Vagina of the Chameleon.Her aesthetic emphasises conceptions of relationships between imagination,mind and ontology that draw inspiration from and amplify her prominent deployment of portals suggestive of or explicitly named in relation to the procreative associations of the vagina and the womb within both open space and architectural constructions.

Dunn uses visualisations of the image of the vagina in photographed and digitally created human figures in association with images of elements of landscape,evocative of the vagina and the womb, in developing his ideas of penetrating into and mapping cosmographic spaces.The image of the portal emerges in Maltwood's engagements with space in terms of the built character of the landscape she engages with,rather than in terms of images created by herself,as with Wenger and Dunn.In her engagement with landscape,the character of the landscape as a spatial configuration independent of human perception but the understanding of which is dependent on human perception is as important as her own perception of the space.

Whether or not one identifies with Maltwood's conception of the cosmographic character of the Glastonbury landscape,her visualisaltion of the landscape as demonstrating a cosmograpic image highlights the capacity of the geological configuration of the landscape to enable a panoramic view of the landscape as seem from the Tor which dominates that landscape.The Tor is reached through a long ascent,at the completion top of which is the ruins of the church of St.Michael,at the crown of the Tor.One of the most prominent features of the church is the arched portal,which frames a kaleidoscopic view of the landscape.The landscape can be perceived with even greatest scope of vision outside the church,but the possibility of the portal to frame while allowing a a panoramic view of the landscape is evocative of the artists' engagement with the space she is dealing with in terms of both the act of perception and the framing of that perception in terms of the perspectives in terms of which she perceives the landscape.This possibility of perceptual framing is also suggestive of the character of the Glastonbury landscape,the landscape of the Osun forest,and the biological spaces Wenger and Dunn evoke or construct as what Ivhakhif describes as heterotopic spaces,spaces which accumulate a hermeneutic density in terms of the range of associations in terms of which they are perceived.

Saturday, 5 September 2009

SPATIAL AND CONTEMPLATIVE PROGRESSION : THE ORISANLA SHRINE HOUSE



This is a collage made up of images that suggest ideas inspired by the exterior and interior of the Orisanla shrine house in the Osun Forest at Osogbo designed and constructed by the school of Susan Wenger.A the centre of the composition is an image from the interior of the shrine.At the centre left is a picture of the front of the shrine house.At the top left is a sage like figure from Batabwa sculpture.At the top right is an Ife head.The extreme top right has a glowing room created by the artist James Turrell.

The interior and exterior constitute a symbolic structure that direct the visitor's visual and ideational engagement with the shrine as they navigate the structure. The sequence in which the shapes that constitute the shrine are encountered suggests a contemplative progression from the inspirational ambience of the forest,
to the creative tension depicted by the shrine's convoluted exterior, proceeding to the contemplative calm of the room in which the ground floor terminates and climaxing in the upper room(not shown here)in which the elevated view onto the road belowits emptiness except for a single metal bench,and the light streaming in through its single window, evokes and inspires a cognitive elevation paralleling and inspired by the physical progression that has brought the visitor to this point in the shrine.

The visitor proceeds from the convoluted but majestic form of the exterior to the calm light and spaciousness of the interior. The convoluted shape of the shrine exterior is evocative of the juxtaposition of opposites dramatized in the story of the meeting of the Yoruba Orisa(deities),Orisanla,who embodies calm and forbearance and Sango,who is fiery, as narrated in the emblematic story of Orisanla's journey to his friend Sango,in the course of which Orisanla was unjustly abused,imprisoned and later vindicated when nature itself protested the injustice.In relation to the serenity of the interior it leads to,it may also suggest a recreative tension at the climax of ritual,in which the self is opened to realities not otherwise accessible,as Wenger puts it,breaking into a dramatic vision of a hidden landscape of being suddenly light by lightning.

The image in the centre of the collage depicts the culminating room in the progression constituted by the first floor of the house. The room is dominated by an image suggestive of an unfolding flower. This image could be seen as suggesting the emergence of the hitherto concealed qualities of the inner space constituted by the individual's self,as evoked,for example,by the metaphoric visualization in the Hindu Upanishads,in Zen Buddhism, and the TaoistTao te Ching,which depict the convergence between the ground of being and the human self in terms of spatial form.

If visualized as empty the room could be seen as evoking latent but potent possibilities of the self. If occupied,it could be understood as embodying the realized possibilities of the self.

The impression of contemplative progression actualized through the relative positioning of the symbolic forms that constitute the shrine house is consolidated through the use of subdued lighting which enters through small spaces in the passage,thereby generating a subdued intensity. The entire passageway,in its sinuous narrowness and crepuscular illumination,suggests a deepening withdrawal from the conventional space constituted by social reality,into the numinous actuality of the forest,here embodied by the mystical suggestiveness of the shrine.

The contemplative face at the top right hand is my favorite Ife head. It recalls the sense of serenity,supramudane-above the mundanities of human life- of Buddha images-but more humanised,in keeping with the earthy numonisity of Yoruba spirituality,while the glowing room is from the artist James Turrell, exploring the symbiotic shaping of light and space.


The top left figure ,in its bearing,is suggestive of the quiet thoughtfulness and alert stance a sage.

The glowing room evokes symbols of the process and the experience of illumination by understanding,by elevating experience, in imagery suggesting a relationship between the brilliance of white light and the creative power of darkness.It is the darkness of the hidden space in which life comes into being,as suggested by the story from the Orisa tradition of life being infused in the human body by the creator in a locked dark room .It is the potent silence and darkness of the womb,in which flesh and mind come into being through the mysterious power of life.It is the darkness of night,vital for rest and rejuvenation of body and mind.It is the darkness of the earth in which life germinates.



It is the darkness of sleep and the unconscious,in which hidden forces work to reshape the nature of the mind,give insight into the future and unravel the mysteries of the past.It is the dark room in the Bini story in which the creator,Osanobua,asks the human supplicant to hide ,while he,the creator of the universe, conveys to the supplicant's personal spirit and arbiter of his destiny,his ehi,the supplicant's question about why the supplicant is unsuccessful in his life,since for the human being to confront the power of the ehi directly is to die.It is the dark room of contemplation and supplication,in which, cutting off the distractions that mark conventional experience,people ascend to that which cannot be seen but which broods over and shapes the visible.It is the space that makes possible the emergence of life into the light of day,out of the womb,above the earth,into consciousness.It is the pain of suffering that makes new possibilities a reality.It is death that enables the freedom to travel on.

The Ife head and the Batabwa sculpture call to mind ideas of contemplative integration.They suggest a state in which being and non-being,life and death,mind and body,past,present and future,good and evil,self and cosmos,are conjoined in a unity that sees life steadily and sees it whole.

The Orisanla shrine house,in its dynamic tension of its exterior or Oju,face as described in Yoruba,the sinuous permutations of its passages culminating in the womb like emptiness of the upper room,suggests a range of ideas explicitly evoked by Wengers description of her aesthetic as well as implicitly in the ideational contexts in terms of which she works.

The shrine,like all the work of atelier Wenger at the Osun forest,dramatizes the organic focus of the aesthetic of this school.This aesthetics is represented by its integration of built and natural form,in all the works being created and sited in the forest.The forms developed by this school also suggest the dynamism of biological forms in the shapes they realize.This dynamism may be understood as not only demonstrative of the visible form of natural structures but of the enabling of those visible forms by the invisible power of life.Like a similar tradition in Classical Chine art,the forms suggest the permutations,the unique symmetries evoked by nature/natural forms as suggesting the pervasive presence of the creative power understood as life,but in Classical Chinese philosophies a chi,and as is represented in Classical African thought,in Yoruba as Ase in Igbo thought as Ike.

A primary filed of manifestation o this power,which includes and goes beyond life to include the maintenance of the physical universe as described by Lawal,human creativity,and what Mbiti describes as a universal force emanating from the creator of the universe which can be accessed at different levels of skill by different forms of being,from the Orisa and spirits to human beings,is the manifestation of life,particularly in the human being.This primary manifestation is emblematised in a range of symbolic forms in Classical African thought,particular forms that recall the female procreative spaces of the vagina and the womb and their association with the male polarity in harmony with which human life comes into being.

The sculptures of architecture of aetelier Wenger at the Osu forest often suggest,and at at times explicitly evoke these biological associations with life as well as their metaphysical symbolism.These works are often marked by doorways that go beyond their functional significance to evoke associations emerging from the dramatic convolutions of their form,their dramatic curves that give extra significance to the spacers to which they give access,suggesting symbolic possibilities emerging from their framing of space,the relationship between emptiness and concreteness realized in/through the balance between empty centre and shaped birders defined by the doorways,as well as the organic suggestiveness of the structures they lead into.In relation to this symbolic configuration,the Orisanla shrine house can be interpreted as a vagina-yoni-womb structural progression,in which in which movement from the entrance to the upper chamber/culminating in the upper chamber represents/could be correlated with the kinetic aesthetics of aeterlier Wenger,in which,in a manner analogous and complementary to the physical penetration into the forest,facilitating a cognitive integration into its embodiment of diverse forms of being,from the animal,to the elemental and spiritual,the navigator is enabled to penetrate into the womb like centre embodied by the upper room,in which like the creation of life represeteed by the conjunction of egg and spermatozoa in the womb,the psychlogical effect of the movement through the forest and through the shrine,culminating in the spacious ambiance of that room,illuminated in the day by a single window,suggest the possibility of what Wenger describes as the emergence of new imagintiave and spiriutual life emerging in the pilgrim through the convergence of built and natural form,as the shrines and sculptures facilitate the Orisa themselves fecundating into new manifestations.







.

THE ORISANLA SHRINE HOUSE



This is a collage made up of images that suggest ideas inspired by the exterior and interior of the Orisanla shrine house in the Osun Forest at Osogbo designed and constructed by the school of Susan Wenger.A the centre of the composition is an image from the interior of the shrine.At the centre left is a picture of the front of the shrine house.At the top left is a sage like figure from Batabwa sculpture.At the top right is an Ife head.The extreme top right has a glowing room created by the artist James Turrell.

The interior and exterior constitute a symbolic structure that direct the visitor's visual and ideational engagement with the shrine as they navigate the structure. The sequence in which the shapes that constitute the shrine are encountered suggests a contemplative progression from the inspirational ambience of the forest,to the creative tension depicted by the shrine's convoluted exterior, proceeding to the contemplative calm of the room in which the ground floor terminates and climaxing in the upper room(not shown here)in which the elevated view onto the road below,its emptiness except for a single metal bench,and the light streaming in through its single window, evokes and inspires a cognitive elevation paralleling and inspired by the physical progression that has brought the visitor to this point in the shrine.

The visitor proceeds from the convoluted but majestic form of the exterior to the calm light and spaciousness of the interior. The convoluted shape of the shrine exterior is evocative of the juxtaposition of opposites dramatized in the story of the meeting of the Yoruba Orisa(deities),Orisanla,who embodies calm and forbearance and Sango,who is fiery, as narrated in the emblematic story of Orisanla's journey to his friend Sango,in the course of which Orisanla was unjustly abused,imprisoned and later vindicated when nature itself protested the injustice.In relation to the serenity of the interior it leads to,it may also suggest a recreative tension at the climax of ritual,in which the self is opened to realities not otherwise accessible,as Wenger puts it in Beier's The Return of the Gods,breaking into a dramatic vision of a hidden landscape of being suddenly light by lightning.

The image in the centre of the collage depicts the culminating room in the progression constituted by the first floor of the house. The room is dominated by an image suggestive of an unfolding flower. This image could be seen as suggesting the emergence of the hitherto concealed qualities of the inner space constituted by the individual's self,as evoked,for example,by the metaphoric visualization in the Hindu Upanishads,in Zen Buddhism, and the TaoistTao te Ching,which depict the convergence between the ground of being and the human self in terms of spatial form.

If visualized as empty the room could be seen as evoking latent but potent possibilities of the self. If occupied,it could be understood as embodying the realized possibilities of the self.

The impression of contemplative progression actualized through the relative positioning of the symbolic forms that constitute the shrine house is consolidated through the use of subdued lighting which enters through small spaces in the passage,thereby generating a subdued intensity. The entire passageway,in its sinuous narrowness and crepuscular illumination,suggests a deepening withdrawal from the conventional space constituted by social reality,into the numinous actuality of the forest,here embodied by the mystical suggestiveness of the shrine.

The contemplative face at the top right hand is my favorite Ife head. It recalls the sense of serenity,supramudane-above the mundanities of human life- of Buddha images-but more humanised,in keeping with the earthy numonisity of Yoruba spirituality,while the glowing room is from the artist James Turrell, exploring the symbiotic shaping of light and space..

The top left figure ,in its bearing,is suggestive of the image of a sage.

The glowing room evokes symbols of the process and the experience of illumination by understanding,by elevating experience, in imagery suggesting a relationship between the brilliance of white light and the creative power of darkness.It is the darkness of the hidden space in which life comes into being,as suggested by the story from the Orisa tradition of life being infused in the human body by the creator in a locked dark room .It is the potent silence and darkness of the womb,in which flesh and mind come into being through the mysterious power of life.It is the darkness of night,vital for rest and rejuvenation of body and mind.It is the darkness of the earth in which life germinates.It is the darkness of sleep and the unconscious,in which hidden forces work to reshape the nature of the mind,give insight into the future and unravel the mysteries of the past.It is the dark room in the Bini story in which the creator,Osanobua,asks the human supplicant to hide ,while he,the creator of the universe, conveys to the supplicant's personal spirit and arbiter of his destiny,his ehi,the supplicant's question about why the supplicant is unsuccessful in his life,since for the human being to confront the power of the ehi directly is to die.It is the dark room of contemplation and supplication,in which, cutting off the distractions that mark conventional experience,people ascend to that which cannot be seen but which broods over and shapes the visible.It is the space that makes possible the emergence of life into the light of day,out of the womb,above the earth,into consciousness.It is the pain of suffering that makes new possibilities a reality.It is death that enables the freedom to travel on.

The Ife head and the Batabwa sculpture call to mind ideas of contemplative integration.They suggest a state in which being and non-being,life and death,mind and body,past,present and future,good and evil,self and cosmos,are conjoined in a unity that sees life steadily and sees it whole.