ished. The hard angles and the rough edges of a society that value power, and worships what is keeping us off balance, fades into the distance. It is instead replaced by a new warm, beautiful future where the Goddess reigns supreme. Is it possible to manifest a new world through the creation of art? In her book Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations, bell hooks states that, “The function of art is (hooks 281). These women compose this declaration clearly, stating that their work is a celebration of “each a balancing sun and moon, light and -
protecting and respecting the land and water. It tells us that the answers are all around us and inside our humanity.
In the book, When God Was a Woman, Merlin Stone writes that ancient goddess worshipers believed their deity was Bethel calls forth in “creator and law-maker of the universe, prophetess, provider of three dimensions human destinies, inventor, healer, hunter and valiant leader in battle.” women’s power, and a Out of the studio and into the gallery, the artists of Yin bring forth a human kinship with deity that battles oppression with visual expression. A prophetess the natural world ... that tells us a story of a new way of living and being that is coming in our future. A healer that
(Chantal Bethel’s Statement).
sculptural and painted vessels that call forth rebirth, reincarnation and the new life that we yearn for. that exude from each piece immerses us in a return to nature which provides us with the answers of how to begin again. Bethel calls forth in three dimensions women’s power and a human kinship with the natural world that once lost can be found again. Yin takes us on a journey to the answers to our burning questions. It asks us to remember the power and value of women; to bring our lives back into balance by
new harmonious way of being that is balanced and respects the environment that we inhabit. She is a hunter that goes out on a journey and brings back the qualities of love for oneself and love for others through intention and imagination, collectivity and collaboration. Magical in its optimism, the Goddess that Yin manifests will provide the viewer with a new space of transformation. She provides us with a space that shows us what is possible when we come together in community to honour women and the communities that they bring forth. (2018) Work cited: · hooks, bell. Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations. Routledge, 2008. · Stone, Merlin. When God Was a Woman. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978. 69