FEMALE ARTISTS SERIES INTRODUCTION
This introduction covers the following women as a six part series. See brief outline here.
Enheduanna
Hypatia
Beth Ames Swartz
Monica Sjoo
Susan Boulet
Rosaleen Norton
I love history, art and strong women. I am writing this series on these women to not only learn more about them myself, but also to share their achievements, pain and challenges with society. We have so much to learn from each of these women be they in the ancient past or more current times. Some are writers, painters and explores the darkness within all of us each woman’s story helps us balance out our own lives.
Before I started this project, I knew next to nothing about even the existence of a priestess like Enheduanna. The story of Enheduanna is a perfect example of why her writing is so important. According to Betty Meador, who wrote the book Inanna the lady of the largest heart, Sargon of Akkad was the father of Enheduanna, and he too participated in the worship of Inanna. Once he was no longer ruler, Naram-Sin was the grandson of Sargon. Now the high priestess is no longer protected under her father’s reign and she is removed from the temple and her sacred position as high priestess. She later does regain her position and her writing was copied many years after her death a testament to her strength as a poetess and her faith in the great goddess.
This is just one example of the many difficulties in human culture where women must fight to hold onto power and authority. Each of the women in this series will go on a unique journey, but the underlying theme of external challenges from society or internal ones must continue to rise to the occasion and beyond. These women have had to deal with societal backlash and challenges against their power, the work they represented due to their gender, strong opinions and creative ideas.
I see these women as pioneers and continuing the work that Enheduanna started so long ago. My hope is that this series will inspire others to not only be creative and appreciate the special strength these women have had but will look at them as a source of inspiration in overcoming their own personal challenges.
One of my goals here is not to be overly negative or critical of the patriarchy outright, but to show that there needs to be a balance between masculine culture, feminine culture and the unique space in between. I seek here to simply re-correct the balance of the bias history that has overshadowed women’s achievements and at the same time left men hurting for a reconnect to a powerful feminine force in their life.
A good example of this is the achievements of Naram-Sin the grandson of Sargon. The changes and artwork at this time in the ancient near East in terms of how human figures were depicted is important. Yes such an achievement can be marked with an example of what is called a Steele which is basically a carved stone monument depicting in this case the success of Naram-Sin over his enemies because his name is inscribed in the stone itself. I know that within the vast context of history in the vault of art it is difficult to cover all the achievements of individuals. Though I do not find the lack of coverage on women surprising at all, Hypatia was not mentioned in any of my history classes nor philosophy. The writing and artistic depictions of Enheduanna were not mentioned even though she is one of history’s oldest known writers, and her name is on the back of the disc which has her image on the front.
So herein lies some of the work and motives behind my writing this series. History has far too long focused on the men in their achievements when we know full well that women have not been sitting on the sidelines doing nothing. I seek to highlight their achievements and bring about a much-needed balance to the critical contributions women have made to society from time beginning. It is important to note here that I will not be looking at these works and achievements of women from the Judaeo-Christian biblical context at all. Yes parts of it are relevant to my work, but that is not my predominant view, nor the lens through which I see things.
I sincerely hope that you are able to enjoy my work and if you have any questions you can email me at loveofmuse@outlook.com I would also like to state that I have yet to monetize my site and in no way receive any financial compensation for the articles I write currently or the products mentioned herein. If you notice any errors in citation or lack of credibility to certain authors let me know so I can correct this. If you would like to reuse my work email me and we can talk.
