I’m pleased to have a new poem ‘The Enchanted Mirror’ exhibited as a text art piece, as part of Gazing Back, a group show of women artists, curated by Jill Eastland and Faye Wright, responding to concepts of the ‘male gaze’.
Says Faye, ‘I also wanted to exhibit work that provoked the audience to think of the message in relation to their own lives and they view themselves and other females around them’.
I’ve long been inspired by the literary activism of French feminist philosopher Helene Cixous, who called for women to resist the toxic impact of patriarchal fear of the female gaze (think, Medusa), that can be internalised and adopted as much by women, as it can by men. Cixous’ revolution called women to write their bodies into text – with joy, ‘joissance’ a form of ‘ecriture feminine’. ‘By writing her self’, Cixous wrote, ‘woman will return to the body which has been more than confiscated from her, which has been turned into the uncanny stranger on display.’
After I wrote the poem, I was delighted to find that artist Lulu Agate had an actual mirror installation she was exhibiting as part of the show – celebrating women seeing – and being – themselves (pictured below – photo credit, Faye Wright). ‘It was a response to seeing so many young women and girls wearing sexualised clothes and make up,’ she commented. ‘The trend for young women to increase the size of their eyebrows, take endless selfies and share them for whose approval, exactly.’
As she says, ‘what we see in mirrors is what we think of ourselves.’
‘You only have to look at the Medusa straight on to see her. And she’s not deadly. She’s beautiful and she’s laughing.’ Helene Cixous, The Laugh of the Medusa
Check https://www.facebook.com/events/722686364783510/ for more information.
The Enchanted Mirror (2018)
When you look in the mirror who do you see?
Yourself, who you want to be, or not-me. You know
that feeling you get when you are in purgatory
Basically, looking and looking but she’s gone
Your happiness your self acceptance self assurance robbed
Your elasticity to be yourself within age robbed
But this is a mirror enchanted with your gaze
Her power will stay with you throughout rain fat days
bad days panda eyes misplaced purses hungover
mornings bad patches train crash relationships abuse fall outs
lost jobs homes cursed words pessimism apocalyptic grief
And all the warnings all the warnings of an enemy
within witchhunted so close she could be you. Your gaze
Women and men betray ourselves every day. But she – your gaze
is always there. Nothing to fear. Faithful and full
with multiple truths. Sees you through birth. Youth
Womanhood. Will leave you only at death
your last breath
Feel her light as you gaze, flowing right into you
A pearl on the mirror glowing splinters of wisdom
Treasure refined, she is glorious, kind. Her laughter
embracing you. Your gaze. Fierce, aligned will make
miracles, if you let her, with age and with time
You can see Gazing Back at Gallery 9, Norfolk Street, Cambridge from December 15th to December 23rd.
