Date: Mar 25, 2024
Folklore and legend are entangled and twisted. One climbs upon the other like vines on a trellis, each stretching to reach the sun and flourish. Lore itself flourishes when stories are whispered behind curtains and around crackling fires.
When children pull covers up to their chins, eyes aglow, legends permeate little minds and each story gains strength.
The tales are handed down, passed along in the great relay of life, and like wood worn by the sea, they transform into new shapes.
The folktales and legends that survive the tests of time are often the tales of heroes and villains. Our heroes are bold and brave, fierce, and powerful, absorbing the self. We see ourselves in the protagonist, making the villains, the monsters, the grotesque obstacle into the other.
So often the heroes of tales have been the courageous, valiant masculine characters whose foes are the monstrous other - often deformed, demonized, feminized. What is it about the feminized body and the female presenting persona that evokes terror and disgust? What becomes of her when we seek to connect with her monstrosity?.
The artworks in this exhibition seek to examine the feminized body as monster in fable, folklore, and literature.
Curated by Jamie-Lee Cormier, Curator/Manager of Travelling Exhibitions Northwest