Tag Archives: feminism

Channeling Female Faces Around the World through Art & For International Women’s Day

Julie Loeckx‘s colorful abstract artworks bring joy into any space, representing a kaleidoscopic universe brimming with zest for life and optimism. Using lines as influence, the endless experiment of color forms portraits with penetrating gazes and diverse emotions.

As a landscape architect with a Master’s in urban planning, she redesigned squares, streets and neighborhoods before entering project development. After discovering a box of watercolor paints in the attic, Julie experimented like an alchemist and abandoned her business life for a paintbrush. 

Julie creates art with subtle nuances hidden in a poetic landscape, striking artifacts in an eclectic interior, drawing inspiration from colorful patterns on textile or jewelry. She finds external sources of inspiration: shopping windows, fashion, interiors, magazines, yet creates one recognizable signature in her artwork. 

She uses painting as an outlet without boundaries and with a broad view of the world and in her paintings of women she channels feminism just in time for International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month.

She says, “Every woman is unique and scarred by life, resilient and determined, hesitant and searching, but always counting on a positive outcome. My paintings are sometimes bold and exuberant, or introspective and self-questioning, but always intense and passionate. They are a reflection of the woman behind the artist.”

Growing up as a daughter of two hippies and as a granddaughter of business people, she discovered painting at the age of 42 (mom of 3) and sold 100+ works, had national and international collaborations, including Levi’s Paint, and opened her own gallery in Antwerp in May 2022. 

For the Silo, Kat Fleischman.

Textile Artist Spins Wool Into Metaphors

Raw material: Wool. Operating mode: the hook.

Nice, France textile artist Stéphanie Lobry frantically fashions her art with an unexpected yet satisfyingly fitting leitmotiv: feminism.

A Teacher when she’s not at the loft, where she created and exhibited her works, Stéphanie Lobry is busy hanging a crochet. Entitled 1.8 cubic meter, “parce c’est la taille qu’il fait”, lies in the piece, in the middle of a crowd of scattered bodies which share this small space with balls of yarn and needles.

If we pay attention to all red wires that surround and hang throughout her living room, we realize that they are, in fact, a gun.

“I wanted to divert the everyday objects. And to do so with needles and wool. No, no to knitting scarves for her daughters in some kind of ‘good housewife’ role, but rather to rediscover the woman inside, and then to discover humans in general.”

Why crochet? Rolled cigarette in mouth, she passes a nonchalant hand into blond spiky hair. She thinks… “This practice is also ancestral, but has potential for feminist messages and aesthetics when it is diverted from its original use and put towards the service of art. I’ve always been very creative and a little hyper active yet the only compliment I could expect from that was to be commended for being a good mother…”. I got fed up.”  Reduced once too often to the status of “the good historical female”, Stéphanie Lobry “lost it”and held her first exhibition.

Our compulsive crocheter remembers having hesitated….stalled somewhere between a choice of direction. Between science and art: “When I started my studies in molecular biology, my mother asked me if I was sure didn’t want to make fine art instead.” Would an academic focus on science bind her passions?  In her artistic process, she discovered that there was in fact a synthesis manifested through the act of the creation, which after all, begins with the cells inside the brain. Fittingly, her art work began with a small croqueted skull which “immediately went to Gallery’. The creative process then dissected and took over other parts of the body.

An Ariane of modern times

Sweeping my gaze around her workshop, it stops suddenly on the croqueted heart, “it was a participatory project I created shortly after Charlie.” Surely a way to re – unite people, to reconnect, “everyone needed it.” The artist put out a call using social media, letting all participants know that their name would be displayed at the bottom of the finished work. In a few weeks, she received 763 balls of wool, from more than 120 donors, scattered to the four corners of the world, from Paris to Noumea, the Chile, the Belgium and the Greece.


A Runaway success requires a lot of hard work.
It takes almost a month to sort the fabrics and create a ball that weighs more than 40 kg. As for the hook… 45 days are necessary for the realization of a typical piece of finished work: “the ball weighed a ton! I couldn’t do more than five knots without being exhausted.” It is a technique so grueling and time-consuming, but I feel like I’m really at the beginning, I still have a lot to say.” She seems to have found her way alright and is brimming with ideas to express her commitment.

Worried perhaps about her peers who see their emancipation sometimes as endangered, this knitter doesn’t fail to hang onto a hint of conviction to her works. I remember especially this sort of determined representation that she had given at the Théâtre National de Nice, last May, dressed in a full suit. Knitted of course. Delivering metaphors spun into all of her creations.  For the Silo, Marine de Rocquigny originally for Art and Facts www.artandfacts.fr 

*photos by Florian Lévy

Stéphanie Lobry accroche l’œil au crochet avec son cœur. Ledit, intitulé 1,8 mètre cube, « parce c’est la taille qu’il fait », gît dans la pièce, au milieu d’une foule d’organes éparpillés, partageant ce petit espace avec les pelotes de laine et les aiguilles.
Pourquoi le crochet ? Cigarette roulée au bec, elle passe une main nonchalante dans ses blonds cheveux en bataille. Elle songe… « Cette pratique aussi ancestrale soit-elle, prend des allures féministes quand elle est détournée de son utilisation pour se mettre au service de l’art. » Car c’est bien avec une volonté libératrice et féministe qu’elle s’est lancée il y a maintenant sept ans : « J’ai toujours été très créative et un peu hyper active pourtant le seul compliment que je pouvais espérer c’était d’être une bonne mère de famille… J’en ai eu marre. » Réduite une fois de trop au statut de BMF, Stéphanie Lobry « pète les plombs » et organise une première exposition.
Alors que les curieux s’aventurent dans ses appartements, elle les reçoit en nuisette, repassant chemise après chemise, la main collée à son fer. Et si l’on prête attention à l’ensemble de fils rouges qui l’entourent et parcourent son salon, on s’aperçoit qu’ils forment, en fait, un pistolet. « J’ai voulu détourner les objets du quotidien. » Elle se munie dès lors d’aiguilles et de laines. Non, pas pour tricoter des écharpes à ses filles en bonne femme d’intérieur, mais plutôt pour redécouvrir l’intérieur de la femme, puis de l’humain en général.
Rencontre logique. La crocheteuse compulsive se souvient avoir longtemps hésité entre la science et l’art : « Quand j’ai commencé mes études en biologie moléculaire, ma mère m’a demandé si j’étais sûre de ne pas vouloir plutôt faire les Beaux-Arts. » Alors autant entreprendre une reconversion qui pourrait lier ses passions et ses connaissances. Dans sa démarche artistique, elle revient donc à la genèse de la création, qui commence avec des cellules. Elle commence avec un petit crâne « tout de suite parti en galerie », puis dissèque et reprend toutes les parties du corps. Du neurone au pied. Du sexe aux poumons.


Une Ariane des temps modernes
En balayant du regard son atelier, elle s’arrête sur le cœur, « c’était un projet participatif que j’ai crée peu après Charlie. » Surement une façon de re-fédérer les gens, de renouer les liens, « tout le monde en avait besoin. » L’artiste lance alors un appel sur les réseaux sociaux, tous les participants verront leur nom affiché au bas de l’oeuvre. En quelques semaines, elle reçoit 763 pelotes de laines, provenant de plus de 120 donneurs, dispersés au quatre coins du monde, de Paris à Nouméa, en passant par le Chili, la Belgique ou la Grèce. Succès fulgurant. Travail titanesque en perspective. Il lui faut près d’un mois pour trier les tissus et constituer une pelote de plus de 40 kilos. Quant au crochet… 45 jours nécessaires à la réalisation de l’organe démesuré. « Les aiguilles étaient énormes et la pelote pesait une tonne ! Je ne pouvais pas faire plus de cinq nœuds sans être épuisée.
Une technique épuisante donc et laborieuse que la « quinqua » ne compte pas abandonner de si tôt: « J’ai l’impression que je ne suis vraiment qu’au tout début, j’ai encore beaucoup de choses à dire. » Sorte d’Ariane des temps modernes. Elle semble avoir trouvé sa voie grâce au fil et regorge d’idées pour exprimer son engagement. Inquiète au sujet de ses consœurs qui voient leur émancipation parfois en péril, cette tricoteuse ne manque pas d’accrocher un soupçon de conviction à ses œuvres. On se souvient notamment de cette représentation qu’elle avait donnée au Théâtre National de Nice, en mai dernier, enfermée dans une combinaison intégrale tricotée comme dans sa condition féminine, attendant qu’on tire sur les fils pendants pour la délivrer. Une cause qui lui tient à cœur, une métaphore filée sur l’ensemble de ses créations.
Marine de Rocquigny pour Art and Facts www.artandfacts.fr

Being In Canada 54 Years And Involved In Social Change

This year, I have been in Canada 54 years. It is difficult to define what I need to do but I have to be more active, more involved in positive social change…….The state of Trumpism gnaws at me.
 
A few years ago, during March 2017, about 40 of my photographs (1967 – 1974) of Toronto’s Baldwin St. were exhibited at the Toronto Arts & Letters Club. I recently spoke at the Club about my experience as an immigrant in 1967 with a draft dodger avoiding the Vietnam War.    

Here is one of my photographs.

In Feb. of that same year, I was fortunate enough to have exhibited photographs at Unlovable Gallery that John Phillips (my ex-husband and late husband)  and I took of the American Civil Rights Movement. Last year, I gave a slide presentation at the Women’s Art Association on Canadian women photographers who worked between 1865 -1915.   Three projects – war resisters, civil rights, and feminism. 

…and this one taken Toronto City Hall

 
 My son, Bennett Jones Phillips, and his partner, Lisa Pereira are in the process of creating a record store on Baldwin St. and I am going to have an exhibition space- provided the current Covid epidemic is managed, controlled and finally defeated. (I had a gallery in the past on Baldwin). Here is a chance to be more active and socially involved.   My plan includes an expanded “coming to Canada” exhibit with blow ups of my and John’s photos and some pages of John’s FBI file and underground papers. It looks like the space will be a shipping container. The opening event will likely include having a tent in the former  Silverstein Bakery parking lot and having music, poetry, and a 60’s feel with Baldwin Street history – Irish, Jewish, Chinese, and American immigration being part of the  opening focus. 
 
There are lots of possibilities. I am very open to ideas and involvement of other people. So what do you think? Cheers, Laura Jones.
 

Three Diverse And Groundbreaking Graphic Novels

THE CASE OF ALAN TURING: THE EXTRAORDINARY AND TRAGIC STORY OF THE LEGENDARY CODEBREAKER An intimate graphic novel biography of Alan Turing the heroic British codebreaker of World War II, a brilliant gay man living in an intolerant world.He was recruited by the British government to help decipher messages sent by Nazi Germany’s Enigma machines during World War II.

The Case Of Alan Turing Graphic Novel CoverTuring’s work was instrumental in saving countless lives, millions in goods and merchandise, and is estimated to have shortened the war in Europe by four years.The specifics of Turing’s work at Hut 8 were only recently made available to the public—they were declassified in 2012. Authors Liberge and Delalande use this new information to create a graphic biography that is both scientifically rigorous, moving, and accessible. Story by Eric Liberge Illustrated by Arnaud Delalande Translated by David Homel 

BECOMING UNBECOMING by UNA This extraordinary graphic novel is part survivor memoir, part true crime story and a denunciation of sexual violence against women. As seen through the eyes of a twelve-year-old girl named Una, it takes place in northern England in 1977, as the Yorkshire Ripper, a serial killer of women, is on the loose and creating panic among the townspeople.

Becoming Unbecoming explores what it means to grow up a girl in a global rape culture where male violence largely goes unpunished and unquestioned. Through image and text, Una questions and challenges a media and broader society who allow a serial killer, Peter Sutcliffe, to become a “fascination,” while the women he murdered are barely remembered.

UNA (a pseudonym) is an artist, academic, and comics creator. Her self published graphic narratives have explored disability, psychosis, political activism, and violence against women and girls. Becoming Unbecoming, which took seven years to create, is her first book. She lives in the U.K. unacomics.com

AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 2016 ISBN 978-1-55152-647-8 6 x 9 | 280 pp | reinforced paper full-colour throughout $26.95 USD/CAN Published by Arsenal Pulp Press US sales & Distribution by Consortium www.cbsd.com Canadian sales by Ampersand Distribution in Canada by UTP

CLICK HERE TO VIEW SAMPLE PAGES

SUCH A LOVELY LITTLE WARSuch A Lovely Little War Graphic Novel Cover SAIGON 1961-63 Written and drawn by Marcelino Truong Translated by David Homel

This riveting, beautifully produced graphic memoir tells the story of the early years of the Vietnam war as seen through the eyes of a young boy named Marco, the son of a Vietnamese diplomat and his French wife.

Marco’s father is called back to Saigon in 1961, where he becomes Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem’s personal interpreter. As the growing conflict between North and South intensifies, so too does turmoil within Marco’s family; his mother’s manic and depressive episodes (she suffers from bipolar disorder) escalate and increase. MARCELINO TRUONG is an illustrator, painter, and author. The son of a Vietnamese diplomat in 1957 in the Philippines, he and his family moved to America (where his father worked for the embassy), then to Vietnam at the outset of the war. He attended the French Lycée in London, then moved to Paris to earn degrees in law at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, and English literature at the Sorbonne.

 ISBN 978-1-55152-650-9 9x 11 | 101 pp | paper over board | full-color throughout $23.95 USD/CAN Published by Arsenal Pulp Press US sales & Distribution by Consortium www.cbsd.com Canadian sales by Ampersand Distribution in Canada by UTP

CLICK HERE TO VIEW SAMPLE PAGES

I Am Content To Keep Watching While Men Dominate F1

Author Lacey Dearie moved her marriage date and delayed her honeymoon departure so that she didn’t miss any of the French F1 Grand Prix coverage that year.

The first time I watched an F1 Grand Prix was the race in Australia in 1998. I’d been persuaded by a friend who loved Canadian driver, Jacques Villeneuve, to watch and found myself gripped. Being a Scot, my instinct was to cheer for my fellow countryman, David Coulthard. I was thrilled when he led the race, then devastated when he pulled over and let Mika Hakkinen win due to a “gentleman’s agreement” made before the race had begun. As disappointing as the situation was, I couldn’t help but adore the spectacle I’d just witnessed. It’s that kind of exhilaration that has kept me tuning in to watch every race since March 1998.
The drama is just part of why I’m a fan. I love the pre-race interviews with the drivers who can be either insightful or guarded and often humorous, the anticipation when the red lights go out, the horror when someone crashes, the relief when drivers walk away from mangled wrecks and the bliss when my favourite team or driver win and receive their trophy on the podium. I have the whole spectrum of emotions while watching a race. It just makes you feel alive.

Being a female fan of a male dominated sport means most of my girlfriends find F1 boring, or they just don’t get it. To them, it’s a bunch of foreigners driving in circles. To me, it’s so much more. However, there are advantages to being a female fan. A shared love of motor sport is the only thing I have in common with my middle aged male boss and fills awkward gaps in conversation during lunch breaks or trips away from the office. When my male friends roll their eyes because I don’t understand soccer’s offside rule, I counter that with a sarcastic sigh when they ask me to explain how KERS works.
The only thing that ever concerned me, as a female fan, was the lack of merchandise available for women, but it has greatly improved in the last couple of years. Ferrari even sell their very own bikini, although I can’t imagine any of the female fans I know wearing one while watching a race.

At the time of this writing, only five women have ever reached the fringes of Formula One and only one of them has ever won a race in a Formula One car- Desiré Wilson.

My husband doesn’t share my passion for F1, but was extremely understanding when I suggested we got married on a Friday and delayed the departure for our honeymoon to the following Monday so that I didn’t miss any of the French Grand Prix coverage that year. He’s accompanied me on several trips to the David Coulthard Museum in Twynholm, Scotland and humored me when I suggested that, if our son grows up to become an F1 fan, we make the family holiday each year a trip to a different Grand Prix. I even joke that I planned the birth of my son for February to ensure I didn’t miss any races due to childbirth. Obviously I’m not serious, although my friends and family are skeptical.

Women who don’t appreciate my love of the sport can be critical of the lack of female participants, but it’s honestly something that never occurred to me until I heard men discussing whether it was wrong or right. All the current F1 drivers are men, and the majority of people involved in the sport are male too. I genuinely don’t care. I’m sure if there were any women out there with the skills and talent to participate, they wouldn’t be denied the chance to race. I don’t believe in positive discrimination, so until such a woman comes along, I’m content to keep watching while men dominate.

Lacey Dearie is an indie author from Ayrshire, Scotland and a new writer for the Silo. Her first novel, The Tangled Web became #1 in the Amazon UK Free Download Chart in January 2012. If you would like to read more about The David Coulthard Museum, please visit the website www.dcmuseum.co.uk/museum

Supplementalhttp://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2008/04/21/where-are-all-the-women/ [circa 2008 data]