“She Was Also In Your Nation, Haven’t You Heard” is the title of a painting that was conceived of and produced for the Eight National Exhibition, NE8, held at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, November 2016 through to April 2017. This piece was created in response to a victorious “No” vote against gender equality in a referendum held in the Bahamas earlier that year (2016).
The following is the artist statement that accompanied the painting.
In this day and age, there are questions to be asked of a nation that votes against gender equality. In regards to the ultimate question - why would a women vote against her own best interest? - the following words from Belgian-born, French, feminist philosopher, Luce Irigaray, give pause for reflection: “To become means fulfilling the wholeness of what we are capable of being…But as long as woman lacks a divine made in her image she cannot establish her subjectivity or achieve a goal of her own. She lacks an ideal that would be her goal or path in becoming.”
In this context, it is relevant to note that there are countless references, from the past, which allude to the coming of a sacred feminine energy - a female messiah - who will usher in a new era and facilitate a collective spiritual rebirth. And that, from an astrological point of view, a new era is presently upon us. Although the exact date is debated, many astrologers concur that after approximately 2,150 years, we have shifted out of the Age of Pisces, and into the Age of Aquarius.
It is of further interest to note that the Piscean Age espoused the values of money, power and control, while the Aquarian Age encourages the values of love, brother/sisterhood, unity and integrity, and points us in the direction of our own consciousness. The general question, pertaining to the "No" vote, then becomes one of trying to hold back the tide, and the ensuing consequences.
The piece I am presenting, offers an image of the Divine, in the form of a female messiah. She is lifting the night – the dark veil of the Piscean Age, as she ushers in the new day - the light of the Aquarian Age.
She was also in your nation. Haven’t you heard?
