“Ten Thousand Years” (…of the patriarchy) ©

This may surprise, shock, stimulate, trigger and more. It is very personal both in art and life. I am sharing this as an potential agent for change and as a vehicle of empowerment for all of us, all genders, who have been, or still find themselves speechless, silenced and dispossessed or disenfranchised by ongoing patriarchal dominance. Those still needing to find their voice. Those whose NO is not yet strong enough. The paintings may not please you, yet if you are curious, the text may. Mohini .

“And They Turned Their Back”, 1^st in the series “Ten Thousand Years”(3.2023) 

“These enigmatic, goddess, pantheon-like creatures, gatekeepers of a sacred past, imbibed with spiritual gold, alchemical in their modes of being, able to morph and move through the veils between worlds.They stand on “a treasure trove of jewels and earthly promise” . (Halli Bourne).

This painting begins a strong, determined departure from my earlier years an emerging artist, where I engaged in sketching, water colours, acrylics, oil paintings – landscapes and portraits.  This new work, stems from deep within the feminine psyche, repressed, supressed and silenced since time began by patriarchal dominance and hierarchy.  It will attempt to show who, in all their humility, the feminine spirit and woman is – how and from where she has emerged. How, now, it is time for the matriarchy to rise up valiantly, against all the multifarious institutions, in religions, politics, crime, the witch hunts, wokeism, the abuse of minors by the clergy and  grooming of innocent youth, by predominantly male perpetrators.  It is time thus, also, for those women who have facilitated the ease of the patriarchy to sew their continual oats, in their beds, and who masquerade as “helpers” or “guardians” in order to gather more victims to stand up and find redemption .  It is time.

“And They Stamped Them Out”, 2^nd in the series “Ten Thousand Years” (2.4.23)

The  investigation into seeing differently, when observing my paintings, particularly those with “impressionistic qualities”, where certain shapes in the landscapes, become “shapes” of something else, something  meaningful, something emanating from the unconscious. Seeing diffierently. Seeing meaningful.  This series reflects my life’s struggle with the patriarchy, and some evidence of the matriarchy, being also present, in collusion, submission and sublimation of their/our voices.

In the light of this new series, the shapes, based on my deep emotional, mental, physical and spiritual struggle, now rise up in the form of the risen feminine and shows both evidence of the dangers and damage which continue to infiltrate our society, globally, by patriarchal dominance.

“Listen To The Grandmothers”,  3^rd in the series “Ten Thousand Years” ( 5.4.2023)
This painting morphed from “shapes seen” in a previous painting, and a pencil “doodle” whilst on the phone to a friend.  It demanded “monochrome”, obviously inspired by my Mama Renée’s Black and White Charcoal Abstract series. It slotted itself quite well into this latest abstract series and the title was intuited on the spot.

When I look at it, I can see and hear the Grandmothers of old, the wise women, advising, counselling both young men and women, those in middle life and those coming into their crone years, and all who had eyes to listen, and eyes to see.

“Deep-She Phoenix”, 4th in the series “Ten Thousand Years” Easter Saturday (8.4.2023)

The phoenix is a symbol of  immortality, transformation,  life after death. In ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology, it is associated with the sun god. According to the Greeks, the bird lives in Arabia, near a cool well.  Out of the obscure and partially hidden, hidden in plain sight. emerges what is truly there, present, alert and waiting to be witnessed, acknowledged and released. This painting, as the previous three in this series, has emerged from miniscule shapes seen in a previous painting.  The shapes appeared to me and speak to me as symbols, which represent my current stage in life. I reflect on how my life and others’ lives have been shaped and formed, by the dominance of the patriarchy, over decades.

As I release all deep feelings of scorn, anger, resentment, subjugation, submission, suppression, gagging, silencing within me, and as a way of honouring all those women and men who have been held “hostage” at the hands of the ancestral, and present relentless patriarchy,  I offer this series of paintings, as vehicles and agents for change.

“And She Appeareth”,   5^th in  Series “Ten Thousand Years” (11.04.2023)
Knowing that all is not well in the world, she emerges from her abode to offer counsel to those patriarchal destroyers of free speech, free movement, to those who have dominion over women and men of all nations, cultures and religions, those guilty of appropriating and disenfranchising another’s human rights and freedoms as their own, for their own power and dominion, as they continue to instil fear, control and doubt over those who are already vulnerable, unstable, fearful, anxious and manipulated.

She is mighty force, a formidable mystical creature of earth and of air, emanating from another realm.

“Monstra Tenebris” (Monsters of the Dark), 6^th in the series“Ten Thousand Years”  (2.4.23)

This painting, in my imagination, depicts the deep shadows of patriarchal dominance and all their influences, actions and rules, that have come to bear upon both women and men over ten thousand years. I have seen shapes in my previous paintings (as already mentioned), which, coupled with my dissonance of the patriarchy, have taken the shapes and morphed into the ugliness and sometimes frightening images we see here. Their eyes are open wide, white and devoid of feeling, expressionless. They are relentless in their attempts to control by fear, punishment and emotional, physical, mental and spiritual torture.

“And She Riseth Up”, 7^th and Final in the series “Ten Thousand Years.” (3.2023)

And so I come to the intuitive end of this series.  One which has allowed me to express through the shapes, the shadows, the monsters and the meek, the free and the bound, and my subconscious representation of what I have experienced, succumbed to and suffered at the hands of the patriarchy.

And She Riseth brings me, and you, who resonate, and to whose reflection I mirror, to the defiance, power, gentleness and ferocity of woman. The female, the feminine, whose NO is  finally spoken and heard, adhered to and honoured.  The inspiration for this painting is two sky-sized Indonesian statues from Ubud Bali.  I immediately knew they would be the last one in the series.  Of course I have my own impression of them.  See how we, the feminine, grow out of the earth, we are rooted and grounded deep within the earth, we reach sky-bound, we stand in ceremonial garb, with confidence, courage and compassion.  I see that one of these looks remarkably male, androgynous maybe. She/he could represent the repressed and suppressed male, who themselves, have been subjected to patriarchal dominance.