Remember The Tenth Woman?
The Tenth Woman was a concept conceived in the times after my Nine Women project. The Nine Women spoke (unheard?) about loss, loneliness, life, love and lust …and invisibility…
The Tenth Woman came into existence as a way of dealing with these things: patience, stoicism, strength, speaking out, taking up a space in the world, pretending to be confident until you were. The Tenth Woman became a bit of an alter ego. If Elena feels too small to do something, too timorous, then The Tenth Woman can do it.
I am sure both Nine Women, and Drawing Songs have told a tale entwined with my life, from working in art education, to not, from having my youngest son go to university, move away, come back and move away again. My oldest son through career changes, marriage, and more moves, through my husband’s retirement, illness, and my move from employed to self employed and into independent, funded, freelance professional artist… and a difficult acceptance of a certain level of my own disability. It has been quite a time, and The Tenth Woman has assisted to greater and lesser degrees through it all. She is a powerful force (you can borrow her if you like).
There is much talk recently about menopause and its effects on women, families, the work force, mental health, physical health, and the breaking of the taboos surrounding it. As a menopausal woman… I feel I am sort of coming out of a decade of inner turmoil, into a state of “I don’t care if anyone thinks I’m too old, too fat, too white haired, badly dressed, I’m no longer scared of you, and I’ll do whatever the fuck I want, I don’t need your approval!”
And I have to say I’m happier for it.
The Tenth Woman then… needs some more thought… I believe her to be a personal philosophy rather than a project, but she will accompany me as I close up this project and consider how best to use what I have learned in the process.
