This week, from Dazed: an interview with artist Audrey Wollen, whose Sad Girl Theory speaks to those who feel estranged from modern-day feminism. "The shade of feminism that's chosen for media attention is always the one most palatable to the powers that be—unthreatening, positive, communal," she says. "It demanded so much of me—self-love, great sex, economic success—that I just couldn't give." As an alternative, the artist presents sadness as something meaningful and empowering, an expression that acknowledges the full experience of contemporary womanhood:
I think Sad Girl Theory has a resonance now because feminism has made such a big 'comeback' in the media lately. I feel like girls are being set up: if we don’t feel overjoyed about being a girl, we are failing at our own empowerment, when the voices that are demanding that joy are the same ones participating in our subordination. Global misogyny isn’t the result of girls’ lack of self-care or self esteem. Sad Girl Theory is a permission slip: feminism doesn’t need to advocate for how awesome and fun being a girl is. Feminism needs to acknowledge that being a girl in the world right now is one of the hardest things there is – it is unimaginably painful – and that our pain doesn’t need to be discarded in the name of empowerment. It can be used as a material, a weight, a wedge, to jam that machinery and change those patterns.
Read the interview by Lucy Watson at Dazed. Photo via Audrey Wollen's Instagram.
A few more, just because:
-A bonsai tree sees the world.
-Meet architect Moon Hoon, who finds creative inspiration in "cars, planes, warships, Japanese animation, Leonardo Da Vinci's notebooks, and watching movies backwards."
-A day in the life of Roald Dahl: breakfast in bed, gin at lunch, chocolate after every meal.
-From Ernest Hemingway: "Live the full life of mind, exhilarated by new ideas, intoxicated by the romance of the unusual."
Wishing you a happy Monday. More recommended reading, here.
-Meet architect Moon Hoon, who finds creative inspiration in "cars, planes, warships, Japanese animation, Leonardo Da Vinci's notebooks, and watching movies backwards."
-A day in the life of Roald Dahl: breakfast in bed, gin at lunch, chocolate after every meal.
-From Ernest Hemingway: "Live the full life of mind, exhilarated by new ideas, intoxicated by the romance of the unusual."
Wishing you a happy Monday. More recommended reading, here.
Wollen's theory echoes so much of my own frustration with being a girl/woman. I loved reading her interview and that you shared it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm totally fascinated by Moon Hoon's drawings. I'm amazed and over and over again by the depth of other people's imaginations!
I think it's my life goal to work 3.5 hours a day and doing something I love! Roald is inspiration to the max!
ReplyDelete