In a depiction of Kali, we see the bloodthirsty many-armed Hindu goddess with a scarlet tongue stained with blood, a garland of severed male heads around her neck and her sword proudly raised showing the traces of terror after battle. Beneath her feet, the pale, plump body of her husband, Shiva, immobilized under her weight. The disturbing image could seem to be a warning of the danger of women's power. But we are told that Kali is both loved and feared, often revered as a mother. And that her insatiable violence destroys ignorance and guides her followers towards knowledge. Or that her necklace of severed heads symbolizes her power to destroy pride. How can she now avoid not seeing in her rage a lesson in liberation?
We are in the exhibition Revered and feared. Feminine power in art and beliefs, which through 166 pieces from the British Museum covers CaixaForum (until June 16), the history of the representation of the feminine through goddesses, sorceresses, spirits, demons or saints -some from living religions such as Tibetan Buddhism, Wicca or Catholicism- coexisting with a feast of precious objects from cultures from all continents, from prehistory to the present day. The exhibition arrives in Barcelona after passing through the London museum, from where it began a trip to Australia and then to Madrid.
There it is, splendid, in the middle of a journey of 5,000 years, a naked figure of Venus or Aphrodite from 100-150 BC. C., covering (or pointing?) her breasts and vulva with her hands. In her day she was outrageously dangerous (the first life-size statue of Aphrodite created by Praxiteles drove men crazy and it is said that a young man jumped off a cliff after making love to her), but the goddess of love and desire was also considered a symbol of justice and bravery. The curator, Belinda Crerar, shows a display case with coins from Julius Caesar where the image of the goddess appears, honored as a source of strength, virility and success.
“My imagination as a Western woman is that the feminine has to do with motherhood, beauty, fragility, delicacy... But that is nothing more than a cultural construct. Outside of that view we can find other concepts that have to do with action, with war, disease and annihilation. And that is not contradictory to the idea of care or protection. Sekhmet, another bloodthirsty goddess, in this case Egyptian, is represented with the head of a lioness so that there is no doubt about her ferocity and destructive power. Her father, the god Ra, had sent her to annihilate humanity, although in times when she could control her anger she also provided healing, and so she was known as the goddess of life.
Revered and feared. Female power in art and beliefs is structured into five thematic areas, in each of which the historical pieces converse with works of contemporary art selected by curator Rosa Martínez, for whom the power of women has been kidnapped by “ the masculine projections that have seen them as goddesses to be worshiped or as witches to be feared, as territories to be conquered and dominated or as dark forces that must be contained.”
Frank, ambitious and independent women provoke suspicion or disdain, especially if they are single or do not have children, like Marina Abramović, of whom Dragon Heads (2018) is being screened, where the artist challenges a python (symbol of the Medusa and the demon) that runs through his body, while he tries to control his emotions and his body heat (the smell of fear) that would lead to a fatal bite. But already in the 16th century, Hans Baldung Grien openly mocked women designated as witches with an ironic representation of one of those evil beings flying backwards with a broom and a goat symbol of lust. Also Lilith, Adam's first wife who refused to lie under him when she made love, flew away transformed into a child-kidnapping demoness.
The final section, Compassion and Salvation, focuses on Mary and her Quranic counterpart, Maryam, as well as the Buddhist goddess of Mercy, Guanyin, who began as a male enlightened being. In a French representation we see Mary holding Jesus while she tramples a monster symbol of evil. And also a representation of the Virgin of Guadalupe wrapped in a scarlet halo and a green cloak, which if you look closely you can see that it is made with tiny fajitas placed side by side. Pure delight.
Feminine power in art and beliefs gives the first and last word to contemporary artists. Opening the route, Ana Álvarez-Errecalde invites an exercise in purification and resurgence (her own body under a waterfall that alludes to resilience and continuous rebirth) and, as a farewell, the sculpture of a teenager with a challenging look and the arms crossed (work by Austin Camilleri) that seems to question what sin she has committed for the simple fact of being born a woman. Along the way, we will find works by Ana Mendieta, Niki de Saint Phalle or Cristina Lucas, who confronts a sculpture of Michelangelo's Moses with a mallet until it is destroyed.
