This is an abstract of my BA thesis for Art History, concerning contemporary female artists and mythological subjects with a strong female message.
Since the snake has been a symbol in the arts and mythologies of ancient times, performance artist Carolee Schneemann researched this symbol during her studies in the '60s. From her studies she concluded that ancient goddess statues that attributed the snake could have been made by female artists. Later she would perform herself with these goddess images in mind.
After this, other female artists followed and expressed their own interpretation of the mythological being of the serpent in relation to women in ancient stories, connecting these images to their own contemporary views.
In this case, Carolee Schneemann started off by interpreting the coiled snake as a primitive way to symbolise the uturus and vagina. It was a way to represent the energy that houses there and is ascribed to the Mothergoddess figurefrom these ancient times. The Mothergoddess would be both giver of life and representing fertility, but also death and decay, having the power to take all life away. In this sense the snake is closest to the Earth, always having full body contact with it. This idea of the Mothergoddess and the female energy that was symbolised with the coiled snake, is also a way to go against Freudian ideas of penis envy, because there wasn't a gaping hole were a penis ought to be, but a self-contained fertile power that could bring life on its own.
In this sense Schneemann tried to recreate the Mothergoddess iconography, for instance in her documented performance piece Eye/Body in 1963, which was photographed in her studio. The artist tranformed herself into the materials she needed to objectify her body as a medium in the environment she created there. In one of the photographs she is seen fully naked with two snakes draped across her body.
Since the snake has been a symbol in the arts and mythologies of ancient times, performance artist Carolee Schneemann researched this symbol during her studies in the '60s. From her studies she concluded that ancient goddess statues that attributed the snake could have been made by female artists. Later she would perform herself with these goddess images in mind.
After this, other female artists followed and expressed their own interpretation of the mythological being of the serpent in relation to women in ancient stories, connecting these images to their own contemporary views.
In this case, Carolee Schneemann started off by interpreting the coiled snake as a primitive way to symbolise the uturus and vagina. It was a way to represent the energy that houses there and is ascribed to the Mothergoddess figurefrom these ancient times. The Mothergoddess would be both giver of life and representing fertility, but also death and decay, having the power to take all life away. In this sense the snake is closest to the Earth, always having full body contact with it. This idea of the Mothergoddess and the female energy that was symbolised with the coiled snake, is also a way to go against Freudian ideas of penis envy, because there wasn't a gaping hole were a penis ought to be, but a self-contained fertile power that could bring life on its own.
In this sense Schneemann tried to recreate the Mothergoddess iconography, for instance in her documented performance piece Eye/Body in 1963, which was photographed in her studio. The artist tranformed herself into the materials she needed to objectify her body as a medium in the environment she created there. In one of the photographs she is seen fully naked with two snakes draped across her body.
Not only is she recreating the ancient Mothergoddess image, she also shows that the female nude doesn't have to be the subject of the male gaze, as it has been for centuries in art history. She actively transformed her body into the material of the piece while also carrying out the energy of the Goddess without a trace of penis envy. This energy she also carried out during performances where the naked body interacted with others, as opposed to the static female nude that can be found in male art history.
Another perfomance artist who carried out a spritual energy in relation to the serpent is Marina Abramović, who believes snakes follow the Earths rays of energy, and also the energy from the human body. In some of her performances, Abramović would have a living snake present, trying to grasp its attention by sending out energy herself. In some of her work she represents the figure of the Medusa, by placing snakes around her head and staying still for long periods of time while snakes slithered around her face, like during SSS from 1989 and a series of works called Dragon Heads from 1990.
Another perfomance artist who carried out a spritual energy in relation to the serpent is Marina Abramović, who believes snakes follow the Earths rays of energy, and also the energy from the human body. In some of her performances, Abramović would have a living snake present, trying to grasp its attention by sending out energy herself. In some of her work she represents the figure of the Medusa, by placing snakes around her head and staying still for long periods of time while snakes slithered around her face, like during SSS from 1989 and a series of works called Dragon Heads from 1990.
At the same time these performances would be narrated with a story of her life, as she would later elaborate with theater performances based around her own life and work, called The Biography and The Biography Remix. During these perfomances the artist would hang bare-chested above the stage, holding two snakes and representing an ancient statue that could both be representing a Mothergoddess or fertility priestess, or an early form of Medusa. This obsession with these images might stem from a dream the artists mother had while she was pregnant with Marina. In this dream she gave birth to a snake. Marina's birth was not a simple one and her mother nearly died after this, resulting in seeing this dream as a bad omen and making the relationship with her daughter a difficult one. In this way her representation of Medusa can be interpreted as the artist seeing herself as a destructive being, but also as a Goddess over her own life and artwork, since Medusa seems to have sprung from the Mothergoddess iconography. This transition of Goddess to Medusa can be seen as a patriarchal doing, making the matriarchal deity into a destructive outcast.
Abramović managed to bring the mystery of the snake as a spiritual symbol into her biography as well as her art.
Abramović managed to bring the mystery of the snake as a spiritual symbol into her biography as well as her art.
aApart from seeing the serpent as a symbol of the Mothergoddess and a symbol for the matriarchal power, the snake is obviously also used as a phallic symbol. In contemporary art by female artists this might be used in a way to criticise the patriarchy or show suppressions that should be of the past. Working from this vision, artist Nancy Spero used snake symbolism and other mythological iconography to show her despair and anger towards the Vietnam war. In her work the phallic use of the snake was also a way to proclaim her visions as a female artist, but she felt she had to use quotes and symbols that were basically male to have her message be heard.
Spero started depicting bombs as human figures from pictures shared by popular media. In some of these the male bombs show a phallic snakelike figure that is sticking out its tongue. This figure is returning later in Speros complex Codex Artaud, in which she uses often misogynistic or violently depressing quotes from the French playwright Antonin Artaud. In this sense Spero seems to connect the war as well as her own frustrations as a woman artist with a male rage that she represents with these statements and phallic figures.
Spero started depicting bombs as human figures from pictures shared by popular media. In some of these the male bombs show a phallic snakelike figure that is sticking out its tongue. This figure is returning later in Speros complex Codex Artaud, in which she uses often misogynistic or violently depressing quotes from the French playwright Antonin Artaud. In this sense Spero seems to connect the war as well as her own frustrations as a woman artist with a male rage that she represents with these statements and phallic figures.
Apart from the phallic symbolism Spero uses the snake in later works as well in a more feminine way, as well as using female figures from (art) historic iconography. Eve and the Serpent from 1995 shows the snakes in the background, but also an interestint depiction of the Serpent that hands the apple to Eve in the Garden of Eden. This serpent seems to have a woman's head, which was common way of depicting the snake in this contect in Midieval manuscripts. Her headpiece suggest she is a married woman, which would make her a matron over the young, naive Eve in this picture. This way of depicting the serpent medieval times was also a way to depict women as treasonous and not to be trusted. Spero chooses this iconography to show the active role of women in art history and the active role of the woman in the Fall as well. She is no longer just a subject here, but an active source that impacts the outcome of the narrative.
Spero often chose symbols andfemale figures that show an active power, such as this Serpent with Eve, but she also brings Medusa out of her context and shows her without the men that would play the main characters in the story where she is defeated by a male society. By doing this she shows that the women in these myths have their own existence, without the supremacy of the men that were originally portrayed as protagonists in their stories.
Spero often chose symbols andfemale figures that show an active power, such as this Serpent with Eve, but she also brings Medusa out of her context and shows her without the men that would play the main characters in the story where she is defeated by a male society. By doing this she shows that the women in these myths have their own existence, without the supremacy of the men that were originally portrayed as protagonists in their stories.
More recently, Kenyan artist Wangechi Mutu also turned to representing historic and mythological women in her work. Just like Spero, she plays with the depiction of women in history, but she also plays with the way black women have been portrayed as stereotypes by the western, mostly male gaze. To show this vision of the black woman in western media the artist uses images from massmedia as magazines to depict women suggesting (western) mythological subjects as Eve or Medusa. The main theme here seems to be about the beautiful yet destructive woman whom Mutu relates to as a black woman who has had western education and now lives in New York. The way she was seen by western people was also based on the way black women were portrayed in the media.
Mutu uses collage to show deformation and destructed images that make up her hybrid figures.The mostly female figures in her work show scars from violence, but they also show a sense of pride. The way the artist makes these figures out of violently ripped and cut images, and the way they are made into disfigured women can be seen as the violence black women have endured in Mutu's youth in an unstable country, but also as a contradiction to the ideal that is portrayed in mass media and the vision of Africa that western people have. The hybrid figures show a disrupted identity that Mutu shares as a Kenyan woman, educated and living in the Western world.
Le Noble Savage from 2006 is a clear reference to this western idea of the African woman, who is one with nature and surrounded with animals. Her appearance is based on that of Josephine Baker, who made white male fantasies come true in the 1920s, by magnifying the African stereotype that was sexualised. The woman in this work by Mutu might have ben made of torn pieces, but she still stand proud. The snakes that are placed around her head suggest a Medusa like figure, which could mean that even the stereotyped, black woman is seen as a destructive force.
Mutu uses collage to show deformation and destructed images that make up her hybrid figures.The mostly female figures in her work show scars from violence, but they also show a sense of pride. The way the artist makes these figures out of violently ripped and cut images, and the way they are made into disfigured women can be seen as the violence black women have endured in Mutu's youth in an unstable country, but also as a contradiction to the ideal that is portrayed in mass media and the vision of Africa that western people have. The hybrid figures show a disrupted identity that Mutu shares as a Kenyan woman, educated and living in the Western world.
Le Noble Savage from 2006 is a clear reference to this western idea of the African woman, who is one with nature and surrounded with animals. Her appearance is based on that of Josephine Baker, who made white male fantasies come true in the 1920s, by magnifying the African stereotype that was sexualised. The woman in this work by Mutu might have ben made of torn pieces, but she still stand proud. The snakes that are placed around her head suggest a Medusa like figure, which could mean that even the stereotyped, black woman is seen as a destructive force.
This idea of destruction can also be seen in the video The end of eating everything, which Mutu made in 2013 with singer Santigold, who plays the role of an all-eating entity that can both represent Mother Earth or Mother Africa, but also suggests a Medusa figure with her snake-like hairdo. The subtitles tell a story of emigration and homesickness, while Santigold eats everything and eventually is ended. It is not uncommon for Mutu to play into her multi-cultural background and playing with the stereotypes she was confronted with. She shows the Western ideal of beauty while adding a destructive side to it, which can be found in the way black women were perceived in white society. According to Mutu, women carry the scars of a society, which she shows by using images from the media as well as a more violent medium as collage to make her images. The figure of Medusa seems to depict her own experience as a black woman, being perceived as both a sexualised object as well as something to be afraid of. This iconography brings out both a postcolonial as well as a feminist message in her work, where black women play the role of a proud, but crippled protagonist who is no longer just the idealised object of the male gaze, yet still wears the scars of this.
In conclusion it seems that even in contemporary art, women artists use the snake as a symbol to refer to the primitive Mothergoddess as well as the depiction of women in art history, in a way that gives them the ability to bring their own message, which is often a feminist one. By brining back old iconography in a new context they give the female figure a main role in art history, which is no longer one stated by the male gaze.
The snake plays the role of attribute to the Mothergoddess, who was overturned by a patriarchal society and turned into the destructive and feared figure of Medusa, to whom all these women artist relate in their own way. In this sense the snake refers to a matriarchal past, that the artists introduce into their contemporary visions.
The snake plays the role of attribute to the Mothergoddess, who was overturned by a patriarchal society and turned into the destructive and feared figure of Medusa, to whom all these women artist relate in their own way. In this sense the snake refers to a matriarchal past, that the artists introduce into their contemporary visions.