Housewives (The woods fizzed, the hedgerow hissed) Painting

Kirsty Whiten Artist statement for Housewives series The Housewives series depict a group of women in wild, wooded places, performing a ritual connection with nature and raw feeling. Each image is delicate, voyeuristic even. An observation of their behaviour as they retreat from societal rules, and evidence of ritual. None of their bodies are conscious of relating to the male gaze in this moment, but are deeply involved in their own experience and existence. Their vulnerability or empowerment is on a knife-edge. The titles come from the Maenads, the cult of Dionysus, who as women in ancient Greece were firmly subjugated in the domestic realm. They were forbidden to take part in public life or education, sometimes even to drink wine. The Rite of Oreibasia saw them throw down their aprons, their weaving, and run to the woods or the mountains to become one with the wildness of their god by dancing into trance states. Dionysus was part insane, an androgyne of fierce nature. In his ritual madness was a cure for madness. Those who did not ‘heed his call’ would be driven insane, become infertile, and destroy their children. It has been suggested that he, or his rules, were created to cover deeply entrenched ritual behaviour from long before. The group ecstasy, trance, or utter abandon, was not usually sexual in nature, but rapture and violence were often reported. They hunted and caught animals with their bare hands, and ate them raw. I have been researching ecstatic ritual practice from all corners of human culture and history. I’m always concerned with the ways in which sexuality and body are controlled, conditioned, understood, and conceptualised. I explore the tension between wild and civillised, inhibition and shame v.s power and embodiment. The ways in which humans approach and flee from wildness, and how readily they can experience a connection to nature, to all life as one force and pulsation. I love the idea that at other times there was such different understanding of our human nature. There were and are so many differing cultural practices that animate our natural selves, or allow expression of deep self/wild self. The costume of my housewives comes from the moment I saw a woman jogging in a naturist camp in the south of France. She was beautiful, powerful and ridiculous, for she only wore what was necessary – a sports bra and trainers – and nothing else. This is my signifier that the rules are other than we are used to. A strong, practical look. “Ritual Dances provide a religious experience that seems more satisfying than any other….It is with their muscles that humans most easily obtain knowledge of the Divine.” Aldous Huxley