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Overall Themes of these Visual Art Pieces:
I Created these Works to provide a Voice both Representing and specifically for Womyn, and other People of all Diversities both Visible and Invisible, and indeed Anyone, Who is facing or Who has faced any kind of challenges/adversities in Her/His life: whether it be pain, suffering, abuse, illness, medical issues, disease, Diverse Abilities (labelled very prejudicially by the dominant culture as Dis abilities), discrimination, or any other barriers of any kind.
This Visual Art and the accompanying Dance Piece are about the hardest work of all for Womyn and Anyone - that of working to establish Self-Empowerment in the face of often unbearable adversity, by Rising Up to Face all things Head On, with Your Full, Personal Strength, and the Complete Power of Your Self and of Yourself. They are about finding Joy and Inspiration and new, ongoing ways to Express Your Spirit, in any changing situation. Thus, these works are very Powerful, Positive, Inspiring and Colourful Pieces.
In addition, I see everywhere that Artists who are Womyn and/or People Who represent any kind of Visible and/or Invisible Diversities, and Who thus have Crucial Expertise in these areas - based upon Our most Powerful Method of Knowledge - Life Experience - are not represented enough in any of the areas of the arts, or in any other career, especially in Roles of Leadership and Change Making.
Therefore, Our Messages are not given a Full and Complete Voice, and are thus, not made readily available to Inspire the Countless Numbers of Canadians and People Worldwide, Who also Live these Experiences, or Who know Others Who have Lived (and may have Died from) these Experiences, or Who know Others Who are currently Living these Experiences.
Therefore, Every Womyn Artist Who takes on the Challenge of putting Another Voice out there into the Worldwide Community about this Work and these Themes, is doing Crucial Work. This is Essential because as a World Wide Population, in terms of Our Fight for Equality in Every Aspect of Our Lives - Our Work is far from being done!
Creating a Representation Of and a Voice Of and For the Countless Numbers of Womyn and People of Visible and Invisible Diversities, is very purposefully a focus in the many projects which I pursue in my career, through My Multi-Medium Arts Business Zoey’s Projects.
Specific Personal Theme of these Pieces:
The more personal theme behind these pieces is that I have been experiencing growing, and severe physical challenges which have been especially increasing over the last few years. I have been facing an increasing loss of mobility, or as I prefer to call it Movement, and one of the things I most like to do is to Choreograph and Dance.
So I decided to Face this new Challenge Head On in several ways. First, I decided to document My Spirit by painting it on a giant canvas using Dance, because
MY S P I R I T is . . .
V A S T ! ! ! !
I wanted to do this right away, in case I end up losing my Ability to Dance through the method of using All of the Parts of My Body. I immediately purchased two canvases, one of which is 8 by 10 feet and the other of which is 15 by 10 feet and I Created My Own Method called Dance–Painting.
PIECE ONE - “M y S p i r i t D a n c e”
For this first piece, I Created a Method of hanging 5 paint brushes from My Body at one time. I then chose All the Colours that were most Significant to Me throughout My Life so far, and I chose Music which was also very Significant to Me, as well as Music which Represented as Many Diverse Ethnicities and Cultures as possible. I “Dance Painted” (a Method I Created and Named) using one Colour and Music Theme at a time, and layering the Colours over each other throughout the entire Canvas. I Danced My Heart Out, to the point that I Proudly damaged several DVDs in the process with My Bounding Around the room, Fully Documenting My Spirit through Dance, Paint and Canvas.
PIECE TWO:
“If Someday I Can’t Walk, Then Dammit I’m Gonna R o l l
Because I Will Always ROCK ! ! !”
I asked Myself, “What if You could not stand up to Dance or to Paint on a large Canvas? What would You do then?” The answer I came up with was to Paint My Body on its different sections, one day and Colour at a time, and then lie on the floor and Roll onto the Canvas, which I did, using the same Colours from My previous Piece, as this is a companion Piece to the first one.
I then documented the stage I am at now in My Movement. I Created a series of Bare Foot Prints along with imprints from My cane, around the edge of the Canvas, using these same Theme Colours. I did this because when I leave the house I need a cane now.
Piece Three - “M y S p i r i t D a n c e” The DANCE LIVE
Another way that I am Facing this new challenge Head On, is to train My Body Rigorously for 15 to 20 hours a week. I do this for a myriad of reasons, one of which is to keep My Movement, and another is to continue My Choreography and Dance Work, amongst all of My other Arts Mediums and Projects, as well as to make the Most of My Quality of Life.
Because of this Phenomenal Amount of Hard Work, I am Able to Put Down My Cane and Dance all the Pieces which I Create.
I believe that Audiences find Dance -Painting Inspirational, because it helps Them to better Understand and Experience both Dance and Visual Art in yet another, more Hands On, Multi-Medium way.
This resulting Dance piece is a Live Dance which is Spontaneously Created, Original, and with different Music Each Time. I perform it to illustrate both My Spirit and the Process I used to do the first Painting. I wear a gas mask and 5 paint brushes strapped to My Body and Dance to Music, just as I did when I Created the Painting, but without the Paint for this Live Performance. I begin by showing the Audience how I load imaginary (to avoid the damage and mess) paint onto the 5 brushes I am wearing, so that they feel they are in my studio with me.
Only after I have finished dancing, do I have someone bring my cane out to me. I believe audiences find this more educational and moving. I do so in order to inspire and educate audiences in a new and surprising way about People with Diverse Abilities.
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Every Womyn, and Especially every Womyn of Visible and Invisible Diversities, has to take on the Challenge of facing countless adversities in Life, including discrimination of all kinds, and of doing Extensive, Extra and Ongoing Work in order to Finally be Heard, and in order to Establish Her Voice, and thus take Her Rightful and Equal Place in the World.
My Dance piece illustrates both this Work and this Fact.
Our Greatest Strength is the fact that We never give up on this Intense WORK and this P A S S I O N is reflected in all that We
C R E A T E ! ! !
Ariel Len of Zoey’s Projects