This issue celebrates
WomanHood
'the distinguishing character or qualities of a woman or of womankind'
As this zine is run by two women, every March Issue is themed to coincide with International Women's Day we have work that celebrates, questions, and commemorates the history of women and the impact women have in the world, and raise awareness of issues women are facing worldwide.
International Women's Day was established in 1909 in America and then in the rest of the world in 1910 to commemorate the movement for women's rights.
If we are moving toward a society where gender is not determined by one’s sex organs and there are fewer and fewer boundaries on the way that women can work, have families, or live their lives in general, we must ask a crucial question: What does it mean to be a woman? What unites us? What divides us?
The open call sought answers or critiques to these questions - made by all genders and across any media - we have sculpture, print, painting, drawing, text, performance, and film. The response was overwhelming.
Here is the first our fab submissions this month
Artist's name; Arizona smith Website; www.arizonasmithart.com Social media links. @arizonathecat @purplediamondtarot
Bio
Arizona Smith is an artist, writer, and ceremonialist. Working with a poetic mind across genres including tarot + divination.
Article/Essay Title
the feminine lineage
Abstract
This is a poem I wrote after a ceremony for the passing of my grandmother nearly a year ago.
The Feminine Lineage
The feminine lineage is a long long road
Or a long long channel
Or a long long grave
The feminine lineage is a river stretching each way
Time is just a currency between the reeds and rocks
I stretch my hand out to you
In the rainbow light
Of morning time
And you reach back
‘Every leaf is sacred’ you say in a voice much deeper than the one I knew
The feminine lineage is magic in the black
Or wild roses gathered across a clearing
The feminine lineage is a wild fucking thing, like any other animal it knows its name: dangerous woman, truth keeper, wombspeak, mama tree, grandmother song, strength, ‘I love you’.
I saw you in the woods once more
Standing like a lit shadow
Between the cedar and pine
You stood by me and let me sing and wail
You didn’t leave
You let me know when it was time to go
Back through the elephant trees onto that long road
With you behind me and something ahead
The feminine lineage is a sound like ommmm
A felt thing around the neck
A new idea taking root in the moss-mind
The feminine lineage is an ancient thing, rich in witches and thinkers and faith keepers like a book with ink that never ever dries.
And with these blue eyes that are so like yours
I can see in the dark
I can see because I look for you
A power across the road
A hug behind the mist
A knowing beneath the water’s edge
Free to love just as you like
The feminine lineage is a shining black mirror
A many-faced plane
Reflecting truth
Like the scales of the time-snake
The feminine lineage is a heart speak dance that gets you deep down in the guts when the heat’s just right
A candle burns brighter in this heart of mine
Lighting up the faces of all those ahead
And behind
The female lineage is a sung plait of love
A tower of strength
A horse and a leopard and a snake and sting-ray, hawk and green spider and a large antlered deer
And together
A long red thread
A book of love between us now
Uncaked in mud
Revealed: Unbroken
By Arizona Smith
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Artist name; Adrian James. Social media links; https://www.instagram.com/adrianjamesphotography/
Bio
I am a retired academic and now a freelance photographer with a wide range of photographic interests. I don't specialise in any particular genre but I do love to create images that offer an unusual perspective on the everyday. I have therefore sought to develop my photography as a means of communicating about a range of issues to a range of audiences. This enables me to embrace macro photography, as well as documentary and street photography.
I was awarded my Licentiateship by the Royal Photographic Society in 2021 and so far have had images selected for the YPU Exhibition 2022 and for the Winter International Photography Exhibition, Glasgow Gallery of Photography CIC, 4th - 29th April 2023. I have also had images published on book and magazine covers.
Article/Essay Title
Civil Rights in the American South
Abstract
This piece, inspired by a photograph taken at the Turner Contemporary Gallery, explores the major contribution made by women to the civil rights movement in the American South.
Civil Rights in the American South
Martin Luther King is known around the world for his role in spearheading the civil rights movement in America. Also well known, although perhaps to a lesser extent, is the part that Rosa Parks, an African-American woman, played in challenging the policy of racial segregation on the public transport system of Montgomery, Alabama. What became known as the Montgomery Bus Boycott proved to be a pivotal event in the civil rights movement. It began on December 5, 1955, after Rosa Parks was arrested for her refusal to surrender her seat on a bus to a white person. The ensuing boycott of public transport lasted until December 20, 1956, when the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Alabama and Montgomery laws that required the segregation of black and white people on buses were unconstitutional.
What is less well known, however, is the many important contributions made to the civil rights movement by other African-American women. For example, Lillie Mae Bradford, who died only recently in 2017, was another civil rights activist who in 1951, four years before Rosa Parks's more widely-known action, also performed an act of civil disobedience on a city bus in Montgomery, for which she was arrested. Similarly, Claudette Colvin was arrested at the age of just 15, nine months before Rosa Parks, as were Aurelia Coleman and 18 year old Mary Ware for similar “offences”.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott is often regarded as the symbolic start of the civil rights movement. It was also, however, an organised expression of protest and opposition to the long-standing oppression of black communities in the South and, in particular, their struggle to try to protect black women. For example, Recy Taylor, who died in 2017, was an African-American woman from Alabama. On September 3, 1944, she had been kidnapped while leaving church and gang-raped by six white men. She refused to remain silent about her rape, which led the African-American community to organise and take action in order to try to secure justice and civil rights. Despite the men's confessions, however, two grand juries subsequently declined to indict them and no charges were ever brought. Taylor's refusal to remain silent and the subsequent court cases were among the early instances of nationwide protest and activism among the African-American community, which contributed to the impetus behind the civil rights movement.
It should comes as no surprise, therefore, to learn that The Women's Political Council (WPC), founded in 1946 Montgomery by Mary Burks, was an early force in driving the civil rights movement. Many other women were involved, including Jo Ann Robinson who, on the night of Rosa Parks’ arrest, printed and circulated a flyer throughout Montgomery's black community that called for the bus boycott; Maude Ballou, who played an important role in supporting and encouraging Martin Luther King’s work; and Thelma Glass, Irene West and Euretta Adair, all of whom made significant contributions to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and related civil rights issues.
The image that accompanies this piece was taken in the Turner Contemporary Gallery in Margate, in 2020, where it was part of an exhibition entitled "We Will Walk: Art and Resistance in the American South". It shows a large mural, painted on the wall of the gallery by visual artist Barbara Walker (https://www.barbarawalker.co.uk), of an African-American woman, overlooking the diminutive figure of a white man sitting on a seat in the gallery. It is a photograph that, for me, encourages both the celebration of and reflection on the important role that many black women played in confronting racial prejudice as part of the civil rights movement in 20th. century America.
As part of this exhibition, this larger than life mural powerfully draws attention to the role played by so many brave African-American women. It symbolises and celebrates their strength and courage in confronting oppression and asks us to reflect on the many issues surrounding race and gender that continue to demand attention to this day, not just in America but in so many countries.
As a man, I cannot begin to know what it means to be a woman, so I also cannot begin to answer fully questions about what unites women and what divides them. As an observer, however, I wonder whether part of the answer to these questions is, perhaps, “men”.
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Artist's name; Doug Chinnery. Website; http://www.dougchinnery.com
Social media links; Twitter - @dougchinnery. Instagram; @doug_chinnery
Bio
Doug has been described as a “pivotal artist who has redefined the creative photographic landscape”.
Primarily influenced by and drawing inspiration from Abstract Expressionist painters such as Hodgkin, Feiler, Rae, and Ryman, his gestural work eschews topography, aiming to distill the rhythm, rhyme, and flow of the landscape through poetic visual expressions.
With the camera as his principal medium and mirroring his painted mixed media abstracts, these intuitive abstracted works layer texture, colour, and form to create a deeply emotional and expressive response to the natural environment.
Doug devotes much of his time to teaching and writing poetry, and his passion for creative thinking has helped students worldwide to express their own unique artistic voice.
He exhibits widely in the UK and overseas, is in demand as a public speaker and his first book, ‘Abstract Mindedness’ has now sold out. When not making art, he enjoys making furniture (badly) and spending time with his wife, Beth, and their two dogs, Eddie and Lily.
Article/Essay Title
Daughters of Memory
Abstract
This a short poem, part of a series I have been writing about the sea and the lives of those who live by and from it. I write these poems to accompany my abstract images - I have included one image which accompanies this poem. I am happy to provide other poems in the series if this is helpful.
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Artist name; Leanna Moran Website; http://www.leannamoran.com Social media links; T: @Leanna_Moran Insta: @leanna.moran studio Fb: @leanna.s.moran
Bio
The bedroom was my sanctuary where childhood anxieties were played out. This led me to dissect the fragilities of the underlying human condition and question wider social and cultural concerns.
Moving out of an intensely oppressive house in 2008 deeply affected my mother and her mental health, which declined so rapidly hospitalisation was inescapable. My work began focusing more on our relationship and powerful household dynamics. The joining of managing my mental health and my mum’s mental health while processing past experiences became the core philosophy and art practice since.
Article/Essay Title
The Still
Abstract
I remain stuck in the four walls of my bedroom where themes of abandonment are paralleled with memories of an oppressive household.
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