I think of my organs like a plant. After thinking about it, I think, specifically, that I would like to reimagine them as a sugar snap pea plant. Here is why.
1) I think they are one of the prettiest plants around. The pictures don't really do it justice, but they are a really beautiful muted green color ... maybe you can see it in a few of them. Also I love the tendrils. I think they are so whimsical and cool.
2) They taste really good! Both the tender new leaves and the actual peas. I think that relates (extendddding the metaphor here) to how I value myself and my sexuality both as reproductive organs and apart from that, for their sake alone. The sugar snap pea plant produces tasty pea pods, but it also is a beautiful, tasty, vibrant plant even if you are not eating the peas right now. I make salads and stuff out of the tendrils. Eating the little buds of leaves that aren't even flowers or peas yet is the most indulgent way to eat a piece of a pea plant, it tastes nutty and good.
3) No matter what stage the plant is in right now, there is this potential inside it to reproduce, and to grow, and to be totally different. Also all of that growth etc. depends on the nurturing the plant gets, or on the forces of nature that effect it.
4) The flowers and peas come out of these beautiful leaf axils that kind of look like a heart. Idea that sexuality is intimately tied to love, or at least it can be.
5) Pea plants thrive in cold environments ... they get sweeter! I like this toughing it out, making lemons out of lemonade attitude.
6) When you are cultivating a pea plant (you don't do this THAT much, its more with tomatoes) but you can, if you want to control when you have peas, you can eat more of the little leaf buds and the flowers and the tendrils, specifically picking off the new axil leafs that are set to become flowers and peas and then let them grow when you are ready to have peas. Sometimes this helps the pea plant produce more peas or better peas because you allow it to actually
produce the peas when the weather is optimal for great tasting peas (a little later in the season). I think this really relates to the idea of birth control.
Let me try to understand what you're saying: during the 18th century (the period you were researching) the cultural view of women was rooted in the belief that their main purpose was to reproduce and woman did not fulfill her purpose until she had a child (when her void is filled). In contemporary society (and personally for you) not filling the void (getting pregnant) is what allows you to fulfill your purpose.. which could be any number of things. is this an ok summary?
ReplyDeleteI think this is an important realization for you, but im not sure that the way to express this freedom is to fill the void (in your drawings/animations) with anything. I dont really understand the relationship between the birds and the uterus (a symbol of freedom? though the perched birds seem caged into the womb.
The parallels between reproductive organs and the pea plant are interesting and it's not uncommon for the forms of human sexual organs and human reproduction to be compared to plant forms (think Geogria O'Keefe...) I guess im not sure what you mean by "reimagining" yor organs as a snap pea plant. How does this change the drawings/projections/animations/preformances?
There is a ton to talk about here.. lets talk in class this week, ok?