We showed this film on Thursday, February 25 from 6:00 - 8:30 pm
Even though it was a stormy night, we had a great attendance. Below are the highlights of our first Movie Night and joint event with WCSWANS to celebrate their 3rd year birthday. We started with a champagne celebration, light dinner, and popcorn supplied by Fresh. We then showed the film (please see the film clip and director’s introduction below).
One note: the women in attendance were a diverse group in terms of ages, interests and vocation. We had one full time artist amongst us, but we agreed the conflicts the women artist were up against, concerning trying to pursue their creativity and growing a family, was a conflict we all at various times in our lives have grappled with. These tensions falling on our shoulders, making it seem personal. The film helped me to realize it isn’t a personal issue, there are social, cultural and political influences and how can we at Soul at Work, support women in having both creativity and nurturing a family in our lives. What can we do to honor the feminine energy that wants to both create and nurture?
After the screening, we started our café conversation and focused on the key issues the film brought up:
Feminism: Film does advocate that the personal is political, how women in the art world are not valued as men, and a host of issues that affect women and their dreams. How has your perspective of feminism been defined (altered or enhanced)? What is next for you?
Work/ Life juggle: Duality of “who you love” and “what you love”. As each story unfolded, what did you think about how each woman balances caregiving and creating; economics and art; partnering and independence; how do you reconcile these tensions of seemingly the opposite. What is next for you?
Can we follow our passions and have good relationships? Declare your next act to serve your creativity and caregiving. Think about this quote in the film: “I need a wife too.”
Wildcard: Explore another theme that resonates with this group. What is next action step given where you are?
Other topics included the following, but we didn’t run a café on them:
Goddess Culture: What if we had more visible and positive goddess images in our society? How does that affect how you see yourself, relationships, work, and society? What would the goddess culture do for you?
Media Representation of Women: What is “body image” for you and how does the media’s interpretation of a perfect female form affect your sense of self? How else can you glorify your diversity and imperfections to create a new social vision of women. What is next for you because of this film?
Please add comment below on any or all of these issues and how you are moving forward to have both creativity/ dream pursuit and a family or helping other women to achieve both. {jcomments on}
A film by Pamela Tanner Boll and Nancy C. Kennedy,read more from the director and view the movie clip:
From the producing team, that won an Academy Award for Born Into Brothels, comes WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS?, a film that examines some of the most pressing issues of our time: parenting and work, partnering and independence, economics and art. The film follows five women artists as they navigate the economic, psychological, and spiritual challenges of making work outside the elite art world. From Hawaii’s Big Island to the suburbs of Ohio, from New York City to the deserts of New Mexico, we watch as these women—ranging in age from 27 to 65—fight to honor their vision and their families every day.
Interviews with experts like Riane Eisler (The Real Wealth of Nations), Maura Reilly (Sackler Center for Feminist Art-Brooklyn Museum) and the Guerrilla Girls add a cultural context for these women’s uplifting journeys. It is not accolades they seek; it’s simply the radical opportunity to live whole. View the trailer–then attend our Movie Night!
To purchase the film: Purchase DVD, to view more scenes go to http://www.whodoesshethinksheis.net/
DIRECTOR' S STATEMENT
As a girl, I painted, drew and wrote stories. But as I learned about the solitary, suicideprone lives of women artists, I grew frightened. So, after college I fled into the business world and started a family. However, when I had my first child, I was re-awakened to what mattered, by the unexpected ferocity of love, deep passion and the terror of caring for this new life. I had to write and to paint to make sense of these feelings—through mothering I regained my creative confidence. Four years ago, I realized I was back at the crossroads – my boys were nearly grown – launched, beautiful. But, I had no book or gallery representation to show for 20 years of making art in the cracks of my caregiving. I felt empty.
Then I met Maye Torres. Like me, a mother of three boys and an artist, Maye brought me to the beginning of my film. How had she been able to balance art and family while I had not? And what about other women? Who Does She Think She Is? was my search to find some contemporary heroines to provoke and inspire all of us to demand more from our work, our creativity and our lives.