A series of 8 bronze sculptures

Escaping Man believes that equal education and opportunities for women have nothing to do with him.

Lion Lady Alone expresses the desperation I felt when surrounded by such men.  My gifts and talents were belittled and sidelined.  I was viewed as a sex object.  I was unconscious of being embedded in this system.  It was what I grew up with: all I knew.

Thanks to going on a silent retreat, I began to see my part in creating my fate.  I became aware of my instinctive life and how I could relate to it.

In Body and Spirit, a female figure I associate with one of Degas’ dancers, is in relationship with her instinctive life.  Through the symbol of the Lion Lady, I began to be in relationship with my True Self.  The Lion Lady plays a supportive role towards me as I begin to be aware of my spiritual life.

In my natal patriarchal culture, I was trained to repress my power.  I was appreciated for my passivity and care of others.  I sacrificed my creativity.

In Eruption, ready or not, my creative power disrupts my life. A process has begun.  I am listening to my inner life.  I have been formed by western Christian culture where the body and instincts have been damaged through separation from the God-image.

In the search to understand my position as a creative, religious woman, I spent twenty years in India.  In Hinduism, I encountered an understanding of the Divine-Human relationship that includes the instincts.  Through drama and ritual, the instinctive life is cultivated. Male and female deities are married and are shown enjoying their erotic relationships.  In addition, each deity has a vahana or vehicle who carries and serves them.  These are represented as animals or half animal, half human.  Through their spiritual, devotional relationship, the raw energy of the emotions and instincts is transformed.  For example, the ferocious Nandi Bull uses his strength and virility to carry Lord Shiva.  He becomes peaceful, while remaining a bull.  He is not castrated to be in relationship with God.

The three versions of Lion Lady carrying Christa are inspired by the concept of the vahana.  They enrich my understanding of incarnation to include the instincts.  In the figure of Christa, I am not suggesting Christ was a woman.  Rather, I am expressing the scripture that says both women and men are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).  Whilst Jesus was an historical male, Christ as an archetype connects every human being with the Divine.  I have created Christa to express my historical reality as a woman who can be transformed through relationship with the Divine.

The final sculpture, Arriving Man, makes visible a new attitude.  This is a real man who is open to relating to women as whole human beings who can describe themselves.  He is also my soul image (animus) or Inner Male.  This figure supports our collective journey into a post patriarchal world.  The sculptures are designed to create spaces where rituals, whether secular or sacred, give women as much agency as men.  Particularly with Christian rituals, they aim to include the body and instincts.  They suggest ways in which art can be used to legitimate and make present women’s experiences and aspirations alongside those of men.