A Seeking Kali Artist Call:
"SEEKING MEDUSA"
Curated by Ria Vanden Eynde, Susan Shulman and William Evertson
Seeking Medusa is presently conceived of as an online exhibition of artist works based on interpretations of the archetype Medusa for an online exhibition on the Seeking Kali blog.
The inspiration behind Seeking Medusa:
In the Medusa myth, as related by the Roman poet Ovid, Medusa was originally a ravishingly beautiful maiden, priestess in Athena's temple, but when the Poseidon, the god of the sea, raped her in Athena's temple, the enraged and jealous Athena, choosing not to punish Poseidon, transformed Medusa's beautiful hair to serpents and made her face so terrible to behold that the mere sight of it would turn onlookers to stone.
Medusa’s image has since been frozen in time as a petrifying and petrified head. That way, she has been interpreted in art by Rubens, Caravaggio, Bӧcklin, Dali, her image has been used on warriors’ breast plates and on flags, as Versace’s logo, she has been discussed as archetype in feminism and psychology.
Medusa’s archetype is linked to Athena’s. Athena adopts the voice of the father/men in order to be heard in the culture, she uses a voice that is not her own and hence cuts her off from her self and her inner power. In this sense, Medusa's severed head symbolizes the wound of the powerful woman disconnecting the mind from the body, from instincts, intuition, and eros and the loss of authentic voice. Medusa’s hair locks are snakes representing a creative, vital life force and a more fluid, relational, and embodied consciousness. In order for Athena to become whole again, she needs to remove her armor and dissolve the rigid boundaries that keep her defended from her self and others and that keep Medusa dismembered, literally and figuratively petrified in Western consciousness.
Through this art call, we want try to restore Medusa’s authentic voice and beauty and loosen the literal interpretations that have frozen her in a silent scream.
For an interesting discussion of Medusa’s archetype, her snake hair and attributes associated with her, like the mirroring and shield emblem , and to be inspired by it all, visit:
‘The Silent Scream of Medusa: Restoring, or Re-storying, Her Voice.’ by Cathy Ann Diorio, 2010, download at gradworks.umi.com
The inspiration behind Seeking Medusa:
In the Medusa myth, as related by the Roman poet Ovid, Medusa was originally a ravishingly beautiful maiden, priestess in Athena's temple, but when the Poseidon, the god of the sea, raped her in Athena's temple, the enraged and jealous Athena, choosing not to punish Poseidon, transformed Medusa's beautiful hair to serpents and made her face so terrible to behold that the mere sight of it would turn onlookers to stone.
Medusa’s image has since been frozen in time as a petrifying and petrified head. That way, she has been interpreted in art by Rubens, Caravaggio, Bӧcklin, Dali, her image has been used on warriors’ breast plates and on flags, as Versace’s logo, she has been discussed as archetype in feminism and psychology.
Medusa’s archetype is linked to Athena’s. Athena adopts the voice of the father/men in order to be heard in the culture, she uses a voice that is not her own and hence cuts her off from her self and her inner power. In this sense, Medusa's severed head symbolizes the wound of the powerful woman disconnecting the mind from the body, from instincts, intuition, and eros and the loss of authentic voice. Medusa’s hair locks are snakes representing a creative, vital life force and a more fluid, relational, and embodied consciousness. In order for Athena to become whole again, she needs to remove her armor and dissolve the rigid boundaries that keep her defended from her self and others and that keep Medusa dismembered, literally and figuratively petrified in Western consciousness.
Through this art call, we want try to restore Medusa’s authentic voice and beauty and loosen the literal interpretations that have frozen her in a silent scream.
For an interesting discussion of Medusa’s archetype, her snake hair and attributes associated with her, like the mirroring and shield emblem , and to be inspired by it all, visit:
‘The Silent Scream of Medusa: Restoring, or Re-storying, Her Voice.’ by Cathy Ann Diorio, 2010, download at gradworks.umi.com
How to submit:
1. We would be honored to exhibit jpegs of your original work on our Seeking Kali blog. The jpeg may be submitted via email to:
2. Please submit your work as a jpeg. Note: for best online viewing we recommend that your submission be no wider than 900 pixels and about 300k.3. Please include you name as you wish it to appear and URL if you wish us to link to your website or blog.
4. The original remains with you. All copyright remains with you. (Although by submitting you are granting permission for the work to be displayed by Seeking Kali.)
5. Your original can be in any medium including video. Please contact us by email for embedding your video. If you are submitting poetry that requires formatting, again, please contact us by email and we will attempt to format within the blogs limitations.
6. Deadline for the online submissions is March 30th. 2012.
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