July Installation in the Window Box Gallery - Mala by Sarah Katz
It is said that during the Neolithic age
(10,000 BC), there was a 4000-6000 year period of relative peace and stability
in matriarchal cultures across Europe, where several goddess figurines have
been uncovered, indicating that the feminine was revered as divine. Entitled Mala after the artist's matriarch – her
maternal grandmother – the piece shines a light on cultural context and
expectations of life-birthing, aiming to mend the dissociation many of us have
to the feminine. The felted sculpture is of a pregnant demi-Goddess mother
figure, in front of a representation of the fallen woman. The mother figure
tends to herself with one hand and holds her belly with the other. The artist
wishes to shine a light on motherhood and life-giving, as we find ourselves in
the throes of instability on psychological, communal, and political levels, and
renewed politicization of women's bodies.
Sarah Katz is a published poet and fibre
artist in the start-up phase of a wool-slipper social enterprise. After
completing her studies in psychology and English literature, she has
endeavoured to help add kindness and playful to the world. Her art touches on
existential themes on the psyche, belonging and human worthiness, examining the
value of body, heart, spirit in a capitalist context.