SH(WO-man)JAA
Women have determined the course of events and the forms of human culture. They originated, founded, governed, prophesied, created great art, fought for our rights, and for our people. These are the women edited out of history, their stories omitted, distorted, and replaced with an endless litany of men (and the occasional queen or meddling concubine). Our ignorance of these women is greatly compounded by the omission of information on societies which accorded females power in public life, diplomacy, religion, medicine, the arts as well as family structure and inheritance.
So we need a remedial history that reconstructs the female dimensions of human experience and achievement, and recovers the distorted and obliterated past of Africa, the Americas, and all other regions neglected by the standard textbooks and mass media. This will be a provisional history, because all the facts are not in yet, and previous interpretations are being reevaluated for gender, race, and colonial bias. More importantly, the indigenous oral histories have only barely begun to be integrated into mainstream narratives.
The most courageous women challenged oppression. The famous Swahili singer Siti Binti Saad rose from the oppressed classes to make taarab music her vehicle calling for social justice in what is now Tanzania. She protested class oppression and men's abuse of women; her song "The police have stopped" sharply criticized a judge who let a rich wife-murderer go free. She seemed unafraid even of the sultan.
In my research, study and creation of this project I realized, the strength of a woman can be found within her soul. In her place of “knowingness” – in her God connection - can be found an endless stream of strength, rejuvenation and fortitude. She then shares her strengths with her world – family, friends, co-workers, and the like. Often she becomes weakened when her “supporters” drain this strength out of her, leaving her defenseless and prone to accidents and illnesses.
Some women don’t know it – some women don’t want it – some women don’t choose to utilize its full potential. But all women are born with this inner strength.
*In honor of all the women of the world
SHOT ON A PHASE ONE 645DF
POST PRODUCED IN PHOTOSHOP, 3D MAX & CAPTURE ONE
POST PRODUCED IN PHOTOSHOP, 3D MAX & CAPTURE ONE
