Series: Patriarchy

 For my series, I had inspiration from Carrie Mae Weems and Bell Hooks. A series that I recreated was the “Kitchen Table Series” by Carrie Mae Weems and “Understanding Patriarchy” by Bell Hooks. The “Kitchen Table Series” depicts a narrative pattern of arranged photos that portrays day-to-day episodes from a woman's life inside the space of her kitchen. With the kitchen being one of the essential spaces of family life, Weems outlines her story, revealing to us her relationships with various individuals in her changing projections of solidarity, weakness and isolation. Visually I wanted to recreate the “Kitchen Table Series” by putting myself in the kitchen. The stigma of women needing to be in the kitchen and serving the man dates way back into the 17th century. It is 2022 and the male patriarchal culture has faith that cooking is a woman's work and earning is a man's work. Today, when women are excelling in the work field, society accepts that people aren't equivalent and that women are subordinate and dependent on men. Bell Hooks “Understanding Patriarchy” goes hand and hand with the kitchen table series. Hooks tells the story of how her father was the representative of the household and the girls in that household had to comply with patriarchal norms. Hook's father beat her for playing with her brother's marbles and even her mother told her that girls cannot do what boys can do. Feminism is hard to talk about because countless individuals start the discussion with a standard misconception of woman's rights and patriarchy as terms. Many individuals accept that feminism is in regards to women's issues when actually the development intends to destroy the abusive framework that we as a whole live under and that impacts us all negatively. This framework is upheld by women just as much as men. In my first photo, I represent how cooking can also be for men and women can also be the ones making the money. The second photo, my dog Aladdin represents a servant. Back in the 17th century, upper class households had slaves and servants who would do their work for them. Women had to feed the man of the household, their servants and their children. My third photo represents how a woman's work is never done as they are still faced with numerous tasks. From cleaning the household, to doing laundry, the mundane patriarchal stigma women faced all their lives. My last photo depicts how women are fed up and they break down with all the weight on their shoulders.  Regardless of hundreds of years of abuse and hardship, women are running quick and making up for lost time. They are showing that they can do what men can do in their reality. Women today are showing that they don't need men in their lives.    

Bell Hooks "Understanding Patriarchy"

Quote 1: "Dismantling and changing patriarchal culture is work that men and women must do together"

Patriarchy is a construction that is kept set up by conventional individuals. Perceive that patriarchy exists and look at your situation in this system. Contrasts between two genders does not mean that somebody is better than another person.

Bell Hooks "The Oppositional Gaze"

Quote 1: "It is difficult to talk when you feel no one is listening, when you feel as though a special jargon or narrative has been created that only the chosen can understand."

Generally, diversity acquires more achievement, advances consideration and acknowledgment, draws in a greater crowd, and instructs us that everybody has the right to tell their story. People, especially younger children, want something that they can connect to real life. For this reason we really want inclusivity and portrayal in film.