“The Struggle”. Pencil on paper.
Drawn for yesterday's International Women's Day.
On International Women’s Day I can’t help feeling that only in a world completely messed up by men would it need to even be a thing. But it is still an important part of the slow journey towards the true equality that still eludes us. Furthermore, it seems to me that men are going to have to face some uncomfortable truths about the degree to which male supremacy is embedded in our culture and reflect individually on the degree of their own complicity.
I have been toying with the idea of working on my life drawing skills for a while, and this drawing came about from a moment of reflection while looking through an old sketchbook. I only rarely draw the human form, especially the female. It's not my strength, and I am uncomfortable about complicity in the Male Gaze, which I can't help but conclude is all but inescapable.
So why have I decided to make and share this sketch of women wrestlers, one seen and one invisible? Because it seems to me that part of a woman's struggle in this unequal society is to be seen: to be acknowledged and celebrated for her talents and powers whatever they may be, every day of the year; and to be free from the limiting roles and expectations that a patriarchal society imposes on them. It may not be my place even to express that, but perhaps I can express my allyship, for the sake of my daughters, my wife, my sister, my mother and all my female friends and relatives; at the same time as acknowledging that I have to do more. Keep fighting.
(I also note that this idea of the difference between the seen and the unseen is appearing in quite a lot of my work at the moment. Perhaps there is more to develop here - with care and thoughtfulness. )