BOWER

The medieval bower is a resonant metaphor: it can refer either to a garden space within a constructed living space or an area of the natural world enclosed and defined as a space for human dwelling, ceremony, or ritual.  Footage collected in the forests of Ireland form the basis of the main videotape which is seen through a trellis suggesting an ancient window. A series of images appear within that basic image, as if “haunting” the bower space. The second tape, projected on a raised platform, represents a dreaming sleeper, seen as a young girl, a mature woman, and an elderly woman.

The piece focuses on the moment in history when the meaning of “the bower” marked a turning point for women, the time when the old religion of the Celts was displaced by Christianity and the codes of Courtly Love. Women who had once been seen as leaders, warriors, and healers, living and meeting mainly in the forest, began to be confined to domestic life, “captured” within the medieval castle or the convent. Ironically, women were both revered as untouchable virginal beings, and  persecuted as witches. The installation invites the viewer to reconsider old stories and their continuing legacy in our contemporary lives.

Details

2005

2-channel video  installation with sound and sculptural elements.

8 minute loop