Firstly I am apologising for my blog of 2 days ago when I referred to Emilia Bergoglio as “her” and “she”. Emilia states she is non-binary, therefore does not identify as either male or female and asks to be addressed as they and them. My use of wrong pronouns was unintentional. It’s extremely difficult for me as woman of 63 years to change a lifetime of programmed thought processing to get it right consistently. It has only been a year since I first encountered people who state they want to be referred to by unconventional pronouns. I uphold their desire and will personally endeavour to respect it.
However, its not a switch that is
instant or simple for me, I have to work at it. When I make mistakes and people
sneer or make weaponized accusations that I’ve done it to purposely offend,
they are wrong. Some graciousness in allowing older people to adapt would be an
act of human kindness.
____________________________________________________________________________
In the
studio
In July I’ll
be having a second exhibition at Newcastle Art Space, 8th – 18th.
The show will be called Garb/Age and the same as last year I’ll be showing textiles
and garments made entirely from used fabrics sourced from thrift shops and
garage sales.
My book illustrating
the garments made for last years show “Thirty Coats” is available in my Etsy
shop
I was in
Newcastle last week visiting Newcastle Art Space Gallery to sign the contract and saw that the
exhibition space had been hugely expanded from my last show. Immediately I saw
the possibility to show not only made up garments but to display lengths of
embellished textile hanging down the walls. Buying a length of art textile has many
options; it can be hung on a wall as it is like an artwork, or the buyer could make it into
a garment, or even commission me to make something wearable!
I have a
number of dresses finished ready for the show. Initially I’d planned to have at
least 30, like last year. Now I’m thinking it will be 16 dresses and 12-15 lengths
of textile.
This is the
first length of textile I’ve started working on. This is a strip of off white 100%
cotton sheet that I first printed with black. Yesterday I started adding sewing on appliques.
____________________________________________________________________________
Did anyone go to that link I gave to the BBC Arts Hour in my previous blog?
This is the exquisite Wendell Berry poem that was referred to
The peace
of Wild Things
When despair grows
in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
YTNUC THIS YREKCUF
In my blog
of 2 days ago I said I would be critiquing Emilia Bergoglio’ article in issue #76
of Seamwork magazine, called “Degendering Fashion”. It is the first of 3 parts
and is titled “What is Gender”. Initially I thought it could only be accessed
by subscribers but a kindly person sent me this link so everybody can read it.
I read it when it first came out a few weeks ago. I knew why it made me feel uncomfortable and have been ruminating the issues since then. Emilias Instagram was given at the end of the article so I started following. A few days ago posts from @Seamwork were coming up in my Instagram and I could see the comments and feedback readers were giving in regard to Degendering Fashion.
I
would like to quote directly the response I made but I’ve been blocked from
following Instagram accounts of both Emilia and Seamwork so cannot recover the
exact comments made. If anyone goes searching and they are still there,
please let me know, but I would be pretty certain they have been deleted.
My comment
was something along the lines of “I think a problem is being made where there
is none. I don’t understand why the specialist language women dressmakers
created over a long period of time is a problem that needs changing. Women have
different body shapes from men and we created a commonly understood technical language
for being able to sculpt fabric around our particular body shapes”.
That
comment got quite a lot of response and I had made a number of replies to several
people when I got a direct private message on my phone from the editor of Seamwork
magazine asking me to stop commenting. I must have misunderstood her becos I got
the impression she was willing to consider I could make a published response to
Emilia in Seamwork magazine, outlining a different view, if I would stop commenting,
which I did. A day later she wrote to me saying she did not intend to give me a
forum.
This blog
is becoming way too long long and I have to do some artwork today. In finishing up by publishing the letter I wrote to Meg, editor of Seamwork.
In another
day or two I’ll be back to continue my critique of Degendering Fashion.
Dear Meg
I’m writing today to request the right to respond to Emilias
articles published in Seamwork.
They made a really thought provoking argument for examining
why we have specialist nomenclature for garment making. I have some ideas about
that, many of which are in agreement with Emilias opinion, and some that
aren’t. I hope that holding in mind the journalistic principles of fairness and
balance I’ll be allowed similar access to discuss my different view.
In regard to Emilias contention that there is a problem with
nomenclature in the world of dressmakers and seamstresses I react as a woman
who is strongly defensive of female culture and the safe places we constructed
for ourselves over millennia. Until recently patriarchy defined all the places
women were allowed to occupy and there were very few outside the domestic
sphere. Huge changes happened since the first wave of feminism, such as women
being allowed to own property, get access to tertiary education, birth control
and have the right not be raped by their husbands. Women wearing trousers in
the 1920s were often arrested and fined, even imprisoned.
I completely endorse and agree with Emilia stating everybody
should be free to dress in whatever way they please. Absolutely. In my persona
as radical feminist and subverter of fashion I have frequently worn completely outrageous outfits to thumb my nose at those mores. I support all humans to have
the right to choose gender and how to perform it. Those who are outside the
gender conforming mainstream have every right not to be discriminated against
in society or law. They should be supported and given access to platforms where
they can advocate to dismantle prejudice.
The only part of Emilias premise about nomenclature I
disagree with is that the words that were created by dressmakers and
seamstresses are a problem and should be changed. Having the power to be the
one who “names” things is highly political. Essentially, whomever names it
pretty much owns it. Just like people who discover stars, new insects and
plants, they get to name them and are forever recognized in that way. As a
feminist and a proud female identifying sewist I instinctively want to resist
what I interpret as a political act of appropriation in a culture that was
created by, for and owned by women. It increases my anxiety and fear greatly
that it is being done by a person who does not identify as a woman, in fact
they are a person who declares being called a woman is offensive and
disrespectful to them.
I might be an annoying shouty woman who wants to take up a
lot of space but above all I love women – our resilience to systematic
oppression, our creativity, our boundless ability to give of ourselves in love
and healing – I hope you can empathise with me when I say it is hard not to
react with fears and anxiety at such an approach. It feels analogous to a home
invasion, with people busting in the door and demanding that the furniture be
re-arranged for their comfort as the present furniture is not fit for their
purpose and offends them. The people who built the house and who have lived
there forever are left speechless as it is deemed “centering yourself” to ask
why.
It is difficult to negotiate dissent and diversity of
opinions with respect and delicacy. If I put my questions directly to Emilia on
their insta they will ignore me and refuse to engage. Their friends have
explained to me that putting my questions directly is regarded as disrespectful
and offensive, and remind me I have no entitlement to ask them anything. I
cannot resile from believing this – If you identify as an activist/advocate and
publish political views, ideologies or premises in widely circulated media then
I believe you have a commitment to be open to receiving the full gamut of
reactions and feedback (except outright denigration and threats of
violence).
As a person who has made a living as a sewist for 44 years
and has been active for decades in sewist communities I find it deeply
disturbing that their view is I have no place in the community, deserving only
to be cancelled, silenced and discarded.
I’m impressed at your courage in publishing Emilias articles.
Gender identity issues have been bubbling away in many online sewist
communities for some time. Many mainstream people, who probably have never
questioned the orthodoxy of heterosexuality for themselves or the wider
community, are deeply curious to find out more of what it all means and how
this might affect them interacting respectfully in online communities.
For myself, I have several intersecting identities that are relevant to how I present in the online world. Like the onion skins I’ll start at the outer – woman, radical feminist, artist, sewist, person advocating for sustainability and ethics in the clothing manufacturing industry, person advocating for justice and the end of genocide to the Uyghur people of China – a large number of them being in forced slavery picking cotton and in sewing factories, I am a member of the Greens political party and activist movement Extinction Rebellion, I am large bodied, bi-queer and a person with a cognitive disability, Aspergers.
The opportunity to talk with people through Seamwork how
these multiple identities are the foundation of how I construct a worldview
would be a privilege for me. Ultimately I hope to foster more understanding for
mainstream people how people with alienated identities negotiate their
existence and politics.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to put this case to
you. Even if you decide not to give me a forum I would appreciate it if you
would acknowledge this correspondence as it has taken a great deal of my time
to compose it. As an extremely low waged person - I made $15 yesterday - time
is precious to me and I beg your respect for that.
huzzah and adieu
Pearl Red
Moon
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If you are interested in buying an artwork or booking a commission, please email me at pearl@upstairs-art.com.au