Well I have tried and failed to get some kind of web sites sorted out...
A couple of friends have kindly offered to help and build them for me, but as it is their day to day job, and things as they are, paid work comes first- which I completely understand, and so I must wait.
As I am not patient person -
Patience is a Virtue or so they say, but sadly one I missed when they were handing them out. So I did try and have had a go. Many years ago I did complete and pass a Dreamweaver course, yet somehow all memories of how to do it have fallen out of my head - along with the ability to understand basic instruction. I blame the menopause!
So for the moment, I am going to start using my blogs for what I initially intended. if at some point I actually manage to get the web pages up and running then I can always transfer or link back to the work I am putting on here and my other blogs
This blog, initially, was intended for my Thesis, where I hoped to share my work, and images I found along the way, which were of some interest to me and my 'work'.*
I have posted some of the images I have collected previously, but very little words on who what and where and what I feel that they say.
However, I have a week off work, and am bored, so feel that I will start to have a play, perhaps re- hash, - oppppps – I mean edit some of my work. It's always good to come back and have another look. I am also going to be brave and post some of my initial papers/research... and see what happens.**
So where to start?
My thesis was titled The Characterisation of Mary the Mother of Jesus, in Contemporary Film,[c. 2000].** However, unless you watch the films or are a religious film buff[nut] then much of what I say would have little relevance for you, so I am going to widen the project to look at many different kinds of images of Mary. That is, images of her from Art, classical and contemporary; from film, and popular culture.
I want to talk about how the image of this iconic 1st CE Woman were used initally to replace the female aspect of the Divine, of the pre-Christian Goddess, and to attempt to wipe her face from the map so to speak, particularly in Western Culture; I also want to discuss how those images of an untouchable and unobtainable idealised woman were used to hide, conceal and keep secret what continued to be worship of a Matriarchal within a Patriarchal society.
I am really interested in how the representation of the Goddess of the pre-Christian era can be seen to be traceable in these images and what I beleive that says about the need within 'our' Western psyche to attribute to a Divine both male and female aspects and personality.
And finally I want to look at that 'image' and discuss how it can and how it has been subverted and somewhat reclaimed. How it is now used in popular and contemporary culture, as well as within sub cultures.
I am a feminist, and therefore shall be looking through a feminist lens at these images, and while I can understand and at times appreciate the initial/historical idea behind them, it will of course be filtered by my own experiences and life choices.
I don't want to make it too wordy- I can talk believe you me... and so to spare you to many words.. and my waffle - I shall use lots of images, and hopefully video to make my point. I don't expect people to agree with me, and would be great if people that don't tell me why [ as long as it's not abusive], as that's how we learn. Well that's how I learn... I love to discuss!
And some of the images I have may be somewhat disturbing to some... but again I value and welcome discussion.
There are a few logistics to sort out - i.e how I footnote/reference etc., I find Harvard [1] really annoying and it interrupts my flow, so I shall use numbers in brackets [1], and then pop the info on the bottom of the blog if that is ok.
That's enough of this for now....
---------------------------------------------------------------------
[1]
see
http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/libdocs/hsl-dvc1.pdf
*ok 'work' may not be how some people look at it, but believe you me it took a lot of my time and life...
** I just want, and sadly need, to say that all work here is under copy write [c] to myself - Shullie H Porter. Where I have used other people's work, ideas and images I will always note and give references etc.If I do miss some information and you do know who the work belongs to, please let me know as soon as possible and I will make sure that it is annoted.
