Our Lady of Perpetual Light- #4 in The Saints Series

left side of box

right side of box


Our Lady of Perpetual Light

Ta da! After a year and a half of trying to pull this together, I present to you "Our Lady of Perpetual Light". It is my comment on women and education. I was particularly affected by the recent story in the Globe and Mail about the woman from Bangladesh who wanted to pursue her Master's Degree. Her husband did not agree with her and gouged her eyes out.

That information was exactly what I needed to finish this shadowbox.

As always with my shadowboxes, everything means something. Metaphors, symbols..... look closely and you'll start to "see" a narrative. The outlet cover on the right hand-side of the box has two Muffy faces. One has her mouth taped over to symbolize that, in countries where men don't condone education for women, women do not have a voice or are not allowed to have an opinion. The other Muffy face has her eyes taped over, to represent the woman who had her eyes gouged out because she wanted to further her education.

The switch plate on the left shows a woman's hand reaching out for knowledge or understanding. On both plates are glued the novel covers of "The Vindication of the Rights of Woman" by Mary Wollstonecraft. It is one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy. In it, Wollstonecraft responds to those educational and political theorists of the 18th century who did not believe that women should have an education.

The strings, fish hooks and male hands at the bottom of the box symbolize how women are held back, restrained from pursuing or denied education, or harmed because of their pursuit of education. ('Cause being uppity ain't right.)

The books stacked in the corners are novels and texts written by women who were considered feminists or on the cutting edge for their time, or both. I think I have actually read most of these books! Of course I included 'Valley of the Dolls'....... a tongue-in-cheek reference to my main subject, Muffy.

In the centre of the box, Muffy is wrapped in a cord that is supposed to hold lights (bulbs = light or enlightenment) but the bulbs have been taken out. Her face is covered and is only showing her eyes, a loose reference to the burqa which is worn by women in some countries where the education of women is not supported.

She is holding a Chatelaine magazine, that says "Eat Great, Lose Weight". That's a whole other reference to women and body image, and how we need to be educated to be more accepting of ourselves. The media often tries to sell us on the idea that we are never too thin, and that happiness is just the right self-help book away. Sometimes, fashion magazines are merely another medium within which women are told what to think.

The dog in the centre is my play on the word 'dogma', or God spelled backward, and he's wearing a rosary. He's also sitting on half an apple. Apples are associated with teachers and Eve (who ate an apple from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil). The dog's half apple represents only half of the truth, or a reference to only educating half of a country's population. It also refers to incidents both present and past when much of the violence against women was done in the name of God; half-assed, half-baked, and decisions made by half-wits.

The blocks at the bottom are my version of alphabet blocks, which of course are toys for kids learning to read. My blocks are covered with pages from a bible which, not that long ago, was often the only text women were allowed to read. I really like the headings I chose to glue on the blocks: Laws Regarding Slaves, Good and Bad Women, Snares of Evil Women, Marriage Laws, and Holofernes' Violent Anger. (When nasty General Holofernes was drunk, he was beheaded by a beautiful widow named Judith, and then the Hebrews were able to defeat the enemy. Judith was a smart girl. Yay, Judith!)

This box, #4, took me almost a year and a half to make, partly because of the setback I've had with my hand injury, and partly because I was waiting for the right bit of inspiration. I am glad that Our Lady of Perpetual Light is done, but I am sad to say that the whole box finally came together in my mind when I heard about the blinded woman from Bangladesh.