Kate is out at UOA

Kate is the annual women's magazine at the University of Auckland, and it came out on Monday this week.  If you haven't got a copy yet, and you're on campus, I suggest you head up to Womenspace and ask the fine people there for a squizz.  I'm reliably told there's a copy in the post to me, hurrah!

The pic illustrating this post is on the cover, big thanks to boundmaus for sending it, for her hard work on getting the magazine out, and for the artist info below:

Sarah Caldwell-Watson was born in Wellington and raised mostly in Auckland. Her love of art was strongly influenced by her artist mother Clare Caldwell and surrounding creative family. During her B.A in Anthropology and Sociology she took a year off to go live and work in Tanzania East Africa where she taught art and rekindled her love of fine arts. After returning she has since studied design at Unitec and been involved in four public exhibitions including her two solo shows at Letham Gallery and Te Karanga Gallery. Currently Sarah is working in Auckland and is aiming to grow and expand her arts practise within New Zealand.

Painting title: Heads or Tails

This painting is an adaptation of Botticelli's 'Birth of Venus' which represents the pagan goddess of love Aphrodite. This image drew my attention as it brings up questions surrounding women's role in the world and the sexualiation of female bodies. Within our "liberated" society today can a woman be sexually liberated without discrimination as well as intellectually liberated? Or are we as women forced to chose between 'heads or tails?'.

Big ups to everyone involved - many moons ago I helped put together a one-off student mag and it's a huge commitment, so well done!

Petition to save the AucklandSuffrage Memorial

Many thanks to Gina for sending this through.

NCW Auckland Branch launches Suffrage Memorial Petition

11.05.10

The National Council of Women Auckland Branch is launching its petition to retain the Auckland Suffrage Memorial at Lower Khartoum Place.

We invite all concerned organisations, individuals, community board members, councillors, Members of Parliament, and media to join us at the petition launch on Monday the 17th of May, 5.30pm at the Auckland Suffrage Memorial.

This site was given by the Auckland City Council for the Auckland Suffrage Memorial in 1993 when all of New Zealand was celebrating the centennial of the Votes for Women Legislation passed by the New Zealand Parliament in 1893. The memorial is of national significance to New Zealand women.

NCW Auckland branch is seeking a total commitment from our elected officials that the memorial will be retained. Like Kate Sheppard, who founded the New Zealand National Council of Women, our will to do the right thing by New Zealand Women is strong.

With local body elections in sight, the NCW Auckland branch will be raising this issue with candidates. Elected officials may come and go, but the Memorial will remain forever!

If you would like to assist us in this campaign or obtain more information please contact-

Margaret Wilson, ph. 09-521-1229, E: maggies.mill at xtra.co.nz
representing the National Council of Women of New Zealand, Auckland Branch Social Issues Secretary.

Suffrage Memorial update

Readers may recall that one of Auckland City Council's committees was meeting yesterday to consider the fate of the Suffrage Memorial in Khartoum Place.

Article in the Herald this morning:

The National Council of Women has failed in its bid to get an assurance that a memorial commemorating 100 years since women could vote will stay in the CBD's Khartoum Place.

Councillors on the Auckland City Council's arts, culture and recreation Committee voted 6 to 2 against committing to keep the tiled mural, celebrating the success of New Zealand's early suffragettes, in its location off Lorne St.

Click through for the whole thing. And for an excellent backgrounder on the issue check out Councillor Cathy Casey's guest post on the matter from last week.

when art and culture collide

so there's this father complaining about the statues at hamilton's te parapara garden (aka the maori garden, at hamilton gardens, cobham drive). his complaint is about the penises being too large, and him feeling uncomfortable about his children being confronted with these carvings. he somehow doesn't mind european art because the penises are smaller. hmm. i think it's best to leave this mine of humour untouched (though i'm sorely tempted).

then there's the gratuitous use of muslim families at the end of the piece, none of whom appear to be complaining themselves, but our erstwhile father seems to feel concern on their behalf. (um, we'd rather speak for ourselves when and where we need to, kthxbai). for those who are unfamiliar with this usage, let me explain it to you. our complainant is saying "see, i'm so culturally sensitive that i care about muslims. this means i can't possibly be accused of being culturally insensitive in complaining about these particularly carvings.

there is much mirth about this on facebook and the predictable penis jokes (mostly by blokes BTW, to ward off our trolls). but it led me off on a tangent, thinking about a teenage girl who stopped studying art in the 3rd form purely because of such graphic depictions. she wasn't ok with the european art being graphic either. in fact i know of more than one young person in this category.

of course we can tell such young people to suck it up (sorry, unfortunate turn of phrase there, but i just couldn't resist) and get with the local culture, appreciate the beauty of the human form etc etc. but for those who really don't feel comfortable and aren't interested in becoming comfortable with this kind of thing, their punishment is to not have access to art at school. this seems to me to be a rather harsh punishment, particularly if you love art and have talent.

i'm wondering if there is scope to have something suitable for such young people, because i hate to think of the talent being lost. there are, of course, a whole lot of cultural issues mixed in with this, and considerable scope for offence to be caused by those who take offence at other people's artistic expression. i understand that. but i also think that people should have the choice to study art in a different way, if that's what they feel most comfortable with.

or maybe this one just needs to be filed in the too hard basket.

Celebrating People's History exhibition in Chch

Justseeds and Beyond Resistance is proud to present 'Celebrate People's History', an exhibition of over 50 international posters documenting radical moments in history.

The poster above is called 'Jane' and is by Meredith Stern. 'Jane' was the codeword for a Chicago-based underground abortion service. Hundreds of women help thousands of others get clean, safe abortions at a time when abortion was completely illegal in the US.

Celebrate People's History - exhibition - May 17 - 29, 2010

Opening Night - Monday May 17th at 5.30pm

Eastside Gallery at the Linwood Community Arts Centre
Corner Worcester Street and Stanmore Road
Christchurch

Contact: otautahianarchists@gmail.com

Thanks to Giarne for emailing this to me :-)

Guest post: Women want Suffrage Memorial to stay

Further to yesterday's post on the threat to Auckland's Suffrage Memorial, here's a guest post from Councillor Cathy Casey who will be fighting for the Memorial to stay at the Arts, Culture & Recreation Committee of Auckland City Council on Tuesday 20th April. Details on how to show support for the retention of the Suffrage Memorial can be found here. Many thanks to Cathy and the many many other women who have been fighting hard to retain this important piece of our feminist story.

It struck me as significant that on International Women’s Day (8 March) I should hear so many capable women make eloquent and stirring speeches about New Zealand women’s achievements, especially those of the suffragists who helped us become the first country to obtain the vote for women. The speakers were equally passionate that the suffragists’ hard-won achievements are given the recognition they deserve within the public domain. As each woman finished speaking, the applause was deafening.

Was I listening to a radical student feminist action group on the university campus? No, I had been invited to spend the evening with the Auckland Branch of the National Council of Women at its meeting in a church hall in Remuera. I must admit I hadn’t expected such radicalism from the good matrons of the NCW, but that was before I realised that the1993 Women’s Suffrage Centenary Memorial in Khartoum Place was on the agenda. The turnout was huge and so was the outrage.

While there were a fair few white heads in the room, these are no armchair feminists. All are strong campaigners who, only four years ago, organised Auckland women to oppose the last threat to remove the Memorial from Khartoum Place. They fought the Council and won the right to keep this valuable piece of feminist history there permanently - or so they thought.

Over two hours, woman after woman stood tall to express indignation at the attempts to remove the Suffrage Memorial and consign it to Myers Park or some other city backwater.

There were wonderful reminiscences from attendees at the memorial’s unveiling ceremony by Irish Prime Minister Mary Robinson and Governor-General Dame Cath Tizard in 1993. There was recollection of the celebratory march on that day and the overwhelming joy of the hundreds of women who swept down Queen Street singing and waving banners.

Then came the war stories from the women who faced the last attempt to have the memorial re-sited. In 2006, the Auckland art fraternity claimed the memorial lacked artistic merit and tried to have it removed. The NCW urged the women of Auckland to respond and a dazzle of four dames led the feisty fight back: Dame Cath Tizard, Dame Georgina Kirby, Dame Dorothy Winstone and Dame Thea Muldoon. The Auckland City Council backed off and resolved to keep the Memorial in Khartoum Place. $2.2 million was budgeted for its upgrade. It was a great feminist victory.

Speakers expressed shock and anger that another attempt is currently being made to re-site the Memorial. The attack this time is being spearheaded by the Advisory Panel for Public Art (APPA) - a group of architects, art consultants and artists appointed to advise the Auckland City Council.

Women questioned why Council would seek advice from the APPA on removing the Memorial after spending $2.2 million on a revamp of lower Khartoum Place which includes the memorial?

Many speakers suggested that the same arguments for the memorial’s removal are being presented as last time, but they are now dressed up in the language of urban design. In 2006, the arguments were put by the arts fraternity and Dame Jenny Gibbs. This time it is Trish Clark of the APPA, the arts fraternity and Dame Jenny Gibbs.

At the end of my evening with the NCW women I was left with several lasting impressions. First, there is a clear bond between the NCW women of today and the suffragists of yesterday. Second, the NCW’s belief that the Suffrage Memorial should remain in Khartoum Place is unshakeable. Theirs is a clear feminist argument that has nothing to do with art or urban design.

The Memorial, designed by artists Jan Morrison and Claudia Pond Eyley celebrates the suffragists’ achievements using symbols that women can relate to – for example the suffrage petition and the white camellia. The petition, a central feature of the staircase, represents the 30,000 signatures that were presented in a petition to Parliament in 1893. Kate Sheppard pasted together the sheets of names and wrapped it around a broom handle. The white camellias which adorn the memorial are important because during the 1893 campaign for women’s suffrage those MPs who supported the Electoral Bill were presented with a white camellia to wear in their buttonhole. Red camellias were sent to those MPs who opposed it.

In addition to the symbols, the Memorial also bears the names and the images of the suffragist women themselves. It is these women and their histories that the NCW is prepared once again to fight for. As one articulate woman put it:

“Brian Rudman the Herald columnist is right. They wouldn’t dare move a memorial to an ANZAC hero like Lord Freyberg so what makes them think they can drive out heroic women like Kate Sheppard, Elizabeth Caradus, Amey Daldy, Meri Te Tai Mangakahia, Lizzie Rattray, Annie Jane Schnackberg, Anne Ward, Elizabeth Yates and Mary Anne Colclough?”

If the arts fraternity in Auckland think that they can remove the Suffrage Memorial from Khartoum Place, they better think again. They might find a red camellia in their mailbox.

The photos (top to bottom) show: View of the Suffrage Memorial from the square in front of it; detail of the artwork with the main logo; picture from the revamp plan that keeps the Suffrage Memorial where it is. Thanks to Cathy for the pics too.

Save the Suffrage Memorial

Auckland City has an awesomely wonderful Suffrage Memorial in the inner city, on Khartoum Pl. As a uni student I often used to deliberately walk that way up to campus from the bus stop, just to see it. It's a real asset to the city, and celebrates an important part of our history both as a nation and as women.

Yet the Suffrage Memorial is under threat, for the second time in four years. We've got a guest post coming on this to provide more detail tomorrow morning. In the meantime here's some advance notice of an opportunity to show your support for saving the Suffrage Memorial:

What: Coming along to support the National Council of Women (NCW) submissions to the Arts, Culture and Recreation Committee of Auckland City Council, strongly advocating the retention of the Suffrage Memorial
When: Tuesday 20th April at 9.30am
Where: Level 15 of the Civic Building (1 Greys Ave, CBD). This meeting is definitely open to the public.

If you can't come on the 20th but want to show the councillors on the committee that you support the Suffrage Memorial, you can contact them directly, as follows:

Cr Greg Moyle (Chair) cr.moyle@aucklandcity.govt.nz
Cr Toni Millar (Deputy Chair) cr.millar@aucklandcity.govt.nz
Cr Ken Baguley cr.baguley@aucklandcity.govt.nz
Cr Cathy Casey cr.casey@aucklandcity.govt.nz
Cr Bill Christian cr.christian@aucklandcity.govt.nz
Cr Glenda Fryer cr.fryer@aucklandcity.govt.nz
Cr John Lister cr.lister@aucklandcity.govt.nz
John Banks (Mayor) mayor@aucklandcity.govt.nz
Cr David Hay (Deputy Mayor) cr.hay@aucklandcity.govt.nz

And here's a couple of links to tide you over until the guest post:

• NCW's media statement supporting the Suffrage Memorial
• A Herald article last week about the dispute over the Suffrage Memorial
• Facebook group Friends of the Auckland Suffrage Memorial

Interesting interview with Gaylene Preston

On The Arts on Sunday (RNZ National) yesterday, which you can hear by clicking here.

Preston talks a lot about her experience as a female filmmaker in New Zealand and overseas, and the changes that have happened for women in this field of work.

Carol Ann Duffy first woman Poet Laureate in 341 years

Further to last week's discussion about American women's literature, the good news is that after 341 years, a woman has been appointed Britain's poet laureate. The post has a 10-year term, an annual award of £5,750, and past holders have included Dryden, Tennyson, Wordsworth and Ted Hughes.

Ms. Duffy told the BBC radio program “Woman’s Hour” that she had thought hard about accepting the post and that the decision to take it came “purely because they hadn’t had a woman.”

Duffy defines herself as a "poet and mother" and has no interest in being reduced to any other labels that others may use to define her, including lesbian.

Judith Palmer, director of the Poetry Society, said Ms. Duffy had “paved the way for a whole generation of women poets who came after her,” including Deryn Rees-Jones, Jo Shapcott and Alice Oswald.

“The World’s Wife” is full of the rage of women disappointed, discarded or overlooked by men, like the wife of Quasimodo, who falls in love with him despite his deformities, only to have him turn savagely against her for her own physical failings. It has some very funny poems, too, like “Mrs Darwin”:

7 April 1852
Went to the Zoo
I said to him — Something about that chimpanzee over there
reminds me of you

Full article here.

feminism + mirror = awesomeness

On flickr:

(Here is) Where I Come From: (Here is) What I am Getting At

When I was a student at Texas State I wrote a paper on the subject of feminism in contemporary art for Pat Taylor. I chose the subject and there were an abundance of resources with queries about the place of feminism within the practices of such artists as Cecily Jones and Sara Lucas, so on and so on. I spent many hours trying to find a young, successful female artist working today that would answer even the simple question, "do you consider yourself a feminist?" in the affirmative. That particular resource was never found. It exists. Somewhere. It has got to.

Feminists raised me. Some of these women would never identify themselves as such. My grandmother for instance, but luckily there were others, my aunt Noemí López, my principal Mary Ashley, my mentor Sue Robertson who all identified themselves as feminists. My aunt Noemí has been or still holds office or sits on the board of The Texas Women's Political Caucus and Planned Parenthood. She took me to every feminist rally, conference, meeting, debate, fundraiser that she was attending to fulfill her responsibilities as my God Mother. She also took me to mass on Sunday.

On April 25, 2004 hundreds of thousands (some reports say over a million) people participated in the March for Women's Lives in Washington, DC. It was the largest protest in our nation's history, though many do not know it happened. One of the participants was Ashley Judd. She wore a T-shirt that read, "This is what a feminist looks like." This glam gal movie star is not what the public identifies as a feminist. She is beautiful, wears sexy gowns on the red carpet with non-sensible shoes. There are a lot of girls that want to be just like her. Another day I saw a guy exiting the grocery store with his cart with the same shirt on (I mean, it said the same thing. I don't think it was the same shirt). He was attractive, well groomed, wore a wedding ring and wasn't driving a hybrid. I didn't see his wife around. Maybe she was at home or maybe she was at work, working at an equitable job, or maybe she is deployed to Iraq, or possibly drafting legislation, or is a Union Pipe Fitter for a local in Chicago, or maybe she is meeting with her editor or she is finishing the work for her exhibition that opens in Berlin next month.

This work that I have produced is meant to instigate an everyday agency. Personal agency begins with identity. My part in an everyday revolution toward change begins with how I see myself.

One step in becoming an artist is calling your self one.

Jen López

Chicago, IL
February 2007

Floral swimming cap gratefully tipped to Feministing's Fun with Feminist Flickr

The Literary Tradition of Women

Women's writing is not determined by biology, anatomy, or psychology. It comes from women's relation to the literary marketplace, from pressures to live public and private lives, from literary influence.

What is women's literature and is there a place for a women's literary history? The academic Elaine Showalter talks about her new book A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers From Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx (Knopf), and discusses some of these issues. Showalter argues that even today, after all these freaking years, women's writing remains largely unknown and that this is to do with the fact that women's writing hasn't been pulled together into a defined literary tradition.

The good news can be found in the progress that Showalter describes.

And the end of the story? In an earlier work, I talked about the phases of British women's literature: "feminine" (bowing to male expectations), "feminist" (rebelling), and "female" (articulating women's experience). By the 1980s and 90s, I think, we'd entered a new stage: "free." Women had joined the juries, as publishers, critics, reviewers, authors. No longer restricted to certain subjects, they could, for example, write about violence and boxing, as Joyce Carol Oates does. They could, like Raymond Carver, be minimalists (look at the understated style of Amy Hempel or Ann Beattie). They could write from any perspective, even a male one. They were multiculturalists.

That doesn't mean that their work has become fully integrated into our literary culture: That's why I wrote the book.

More here.