WitCH the show!

Back in July, 4 of us met to discuss the next FANS OF FEMINISM show, and unanimously decided on WitCH.. a theme with history, serious issues, intrigue, magic, and fun. (black cats?) Witch cocktails at the PV.. a Barbeque on Halloween, a cauldron.. And feminist without a doubt.
But not so easy. Through this blog I want to chart some of the twists and turns in this project, for me as an artist and as an arts organizer, as a co-curator/organizer. Reflect on it, share some of the ideas, get some feedback.
We had a small gallery with a feminist perspective that was keen to host us! the PV would be 31st October, of course! We’d have 13 artists!
As we began to approach artists I was aware of the fact that the two main organizers are lesbian, straight, white, and Western (ie British and American), but the serious witch issues are world wide. Though witch trials are in our history, and in our literature and our childrens books, we are not representative of the countries where witch persecution, and indeed witch hunters, exist.
The work I’d made before entitled “We are not witches or wizards’’ had started from my wild knitting… and grown from there to connect with the issues of children accused of being witches and wizards in Africa. (The title itself comes from a internet photo of the children in a ‘witches camp’ with their own poster with that slogan on it..) I hadn’t set out to make work about witches in Africa, from my European roots.
The wild knitting contains thread, wire, plastic bags, headphones and their cables. screws, electric cables, anything and everything I could in fact knit with.. and dolls heads. The knitting both cradles the dolls and also looks like a catapult, a weapon.. the three hanging pieces focus on red, black and grey, tho they contain all the colours you can think of..
The piece was both caring and disturbing.. reflecting my thoughts towards… towards something happening somewhere else.. How would we handle taking on this theme where women children and men, are tortured exiled and punished? More in my next..