The general quotient of productivity, abundance, democracy, and tolerance are the highest in those places where men and women behave with respect and compassion toward each other. However, the number of women in the world forced to adapt to deadening cultural mores designed to keep them “in their place” remains persistently high, and it is this perverse and counterproductive outlook that is preventing the human species from getting on with attaining its next level.
(P. 21 of book, out of 3rd par.)
Balance is synonymous with equilibrium, which infers the existence of two entities having the same value, having qualities that are appraised at the same worth on some scale of measurement. Certain works in the show impose a similar logic, a precision, on some facet of life. Through the technical processes used, they create an illusion of order or find a momentary stability and, by sealing it in the artwork, give it permanence in the world. Others dive into the cellular levels and freeze-frame the chaos and destructive elements found there. Some combine the two to refer to the façade of normalcy while the frenetic dance carries on under the surface. Other works describe an evolutionary track from states of disunity and mayhem to a level of order and tranquility. But nowhere is there a sense of a world in balance or even that some major components are in balance. To the contrary, there is a consistent affirmation of imbalance.
Seeking balance in one’s psyche or in one’s world is a rare endeavor. It is not the easy path and does not offer immediate or direct results, so it doesn’t find a comfortable home in our culture. Therefore, it makes sense that those in our culture who have already chosen alternative paths, the artists, would be more likely to integrate this quest into their lives and their lifework.
Yet the work in this exhibition is more a description of the territory to be traversed, a reconnoitering of what lies ahead in preparation for the establishing of “a more perfect union.” The artists here are looking at what causes the state of imbalance to learn better how to excise it and neutralize it, rather than suggesting what reality might be like. The insinuation is that the creators are somewhere along the trail: the quest has begun.
(From last three paragraphs of Charmaine’s intro.)
I think it fair to say that no matter the century the pattern has not changed; if you made a list of the most despicable one thousand characters of the twentieth century, they would all be men. It was men who robbed, raped, pillaged, plundered, burned, and bombed their way through history, ancient as well as modern. The destructiveness of men is applicable to this exhibition because, as curator, I am operating under the premise that the imbalance of patriarchal dominance over the matriarchal has reached a dead end, with no way of turning back.
It is no small task to start with such a premise and then go about convincing an audience that the time of male/female balance is here. I do maintain a belief in that balance as a grand premise and that the world at large is ready for such a paradigm shift. There exists in any time period what is referred to as the “spirit of the age.” It is my belief that finding this balance between the two “halves” of our humanity is upon us and is part of the spirit of our age.
(portion of first part and all of second, p. 39 of book)