“Rebirthing Finnish Ancestral Mothers and Goddesses through Art and Research” by Kaarina Kailo (original) (raw)
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Mission Statement: S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies is a web-based, peer-reviewed international scholarly journal committed to the academic exploration, analysis and interpretation, from a range of disciplinary perspectives, of Goddesses and the Female Divine in all religions, traditions, and cultures, to be ancient, historical, or contemporary. The journal is a multidisciplinary forum for the publication of feminist scholarship in Goddess Studies and for discussion, comparison, and dialogue among scholars of differing feminist perspectives.
The Finnish Visual Arts Based on the Kalevala by Female Artists 1850-2000
From the Golden Era around the turn of the 19 th century onwards Finland has had quite a few very capable, even luminous women artists, but they never seem to have been very dedicated to the Kalevala. And, indeed, the epic has long been a pivot in the so called national project, which wasit is often said -a masculine one, basically rooted in the romantic thinking of the 19 th century about the nation, and to a high degree modeled after the traditional agricultural, patriarchal family. It could explain why, in general, women artists were clearly less interested in this project, in the construction of the Finnish nation and the creation of a national identity, andthusin the Kalevala, than men, as their voices seemed within this framework less heard. Still, this is a general statement and things are hardly ever as black and white as in theory. Women did use themes from the Kalevala, albeit considerably less than men, but to what extent? Who were they actually? And what exactly did they choose from the epic to turn into images, and when? These are basic questions to be answered, before discussing other issues, like were these women artists gender-driven in choosing particular subjects or characters from the epic. Could there possibly be a relation between time and subject and would all this, compared to the Kalevala-art of their male colleagues, be very dissimilar in character? Only then, a sharper picture of to what extent women artists were or were not involved in the construction of national identity could arise.
Finnish Goddess Mythology and the Golden Woman. Climate Change, Earth-based Indigenous knowledge and the Gift, 2018
This interdisciplinary study focuses on Finnish and Finno-Ugric myths of Nature Spirits and respectful human/animal relations as social mechanisms for the transmission of traditional ecological knowledge. It introduces and applies Indigenous, ecofeminist and modern matriarchal research methods aimed at promoting Earth Democracy. The female figures of Finnish folk belief have been overshadowed by the male heroes. Kailo revisits the Finnish shamanic worldview beyond patriarchal prejudices. She introduces Finnish Goddess mythology (with her own illustrations) and shows the links between the legendary Golden Woman, Zolataja Baba, and other Northern Great Mothers. The author refers to ancient folk materials that provide hints of a mysterious Northern Land of Women (Terra Feminarum) of high antiquity. The study argues that a shift is needed from the competitive economics of exchange to the Gift Economy, and towards the culturally, not biologically “maternal,” human norm of the Gift Imaginary. This worldview has characterized many cultures past and present. The motto of the book is “Planet first!”
Making and Unmaking Bodies: Academic Women in Art Education
The 2014 suspension of an art education program at State University, a research institution in the Midwest, leads the author’s journey into exploring truths. The exploration begins with biographical artifacts from her academic ancestry at the University. Specifically, the author uses Foucault’s genealogical analysis of descent to investigate visually 10 portrait photographs and two biographies that traverse the 20th century. The visual analysis reveals the ways in which truths both make and unmake the bodies of women academic art teachers at State University. Ultimately, she learns that truths cannot totally imprint bodies without also rendering parts of those truths obsolete. This research also exposes how discourse and the material are marginalized through creative analysis. The concluding discussion challenges art educators to investigate the practices that “disrupt or sustain relations of power and advance knowledge” (Jackson & Mazzei, 2012, p. 57) so that they can continue pushing art education forward in the 21st century.
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