Goddesses, Myths & Monsters

Dates & Times

Opening

Dec 5th 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Artist Talk

Dec 13th 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Closing/NYE Party

Dec 31st 7:00 PM - 1:00 AM

Location

Maryland Art Place

218 W Saratoga St, Baltimore, MD 21201

Artist Statement:
To become a mother is an act of vulnerability; so too is the process of transition for a trans woman. In the midst of these raw moments loom the cultural myths shaped by idealized womanhood and its contrasting shadow the “monstrous” woman. Misogyny defines women by their ability to bear children as well as elevating their existential capacity for love and care. Many cultures throughout human history have reduced women to three tropes, the maiden, the matron and the hag. The matron, or the idealized mother, ostensibly elevates women to a role that in real life can never be achieved while the purest maiden earns the right to serve as a vessel to become the matron. The monstrous hag is the failed matron. This gives cis women one path to validity and leaves trans women no way to be perceived as legitimate women. For the cis woman who has “achieved” pregnancy and childbirth the weight of idealized motherhood can be crushing. The sainted  pedestal is a narrow cliff with sharp rocks of shame lurking below.

For many trans women the process of transition means confronting disgust and rejection on the faces of strangers and loved ones. Simply being themselves conjures the deeply feared monstrous woman, the thing of shame and shadow that tramples on sacred womanhood. Our work wrestles with the way these stories are embedded in our own bodies coloring the way we view ourselves. Perhaps, by playfully depicting the specters that haunt us we can exorcise their presence, clearing space for vulnerability to be a place of human connection.