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Lilith
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Published: 2014-01-03 19:04:20 +0000 UTC; Views: 37878; Favourites: 2166; Downloads: 446
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Description
I was recently involved in the Artificial Fiction show at Ayden Gallery here in Vancouver, a show whose theme was the exploration of the mythology and folklore and stories in our culture. Invitation made to me, the images and the stories immediately began conjuring in my mind. All of them, I discovered seemed connected in focusing on the women in mythology I considered some of the most nobel, yet who had been scape goats or figures of admonition.In certain Abrahamic and Gnostic traditions Eve was not the first wife of Adam, but Lilith. She was created not of him, but along side him, from the same dust and clay. Being equal, she refused Adam's attempts to force her into submission, and to assume to "inferior" sexual position. When she made to leave him, the Creator sent after her a party of archangels to return her, and bend her to this domination. For millennia fathers, mothers, and societies, have told their daughters not to be like Lilith, but to be good wives, and to obey their husbands. I cannot imagine, looking back from our generation in history, this being something I could ever hear us telling our daughters. Perhaps this is a portrait of ourselves, a people who have chosen to empower and support women, though how successfully may be debated. I struggled to decide how to depict Lilith, whether in the moment of her subjugation or her defiance, but realized it was both states that defined her.Β
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Comments: 185
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Good to see a positive portrayal of Lilith, who had been literally demonized by sexist, mysoginistic traditions.
You made a very nice and interesting picture. Β
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Can't describe the feeling I get looking at your work.
just
...also for the description!
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Hi ! I featured your work here : ahemka.deviantart.com/journal/β¦
Have a nice day
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Thanks so much! It's an honour to be mentioned among so many gorgeous works!
Xoxo
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I remember seeing this at Emily Carr this summer! Cool to happen across it here as well. Nice work
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Oh very cool! Yes it was in the grad show! I'm really glad you like it!
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Thank you for sharing your talent!!!! This is an amazing piece.
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I can't remember perfectly, it was on and off over a week or two.Β The grass was pretty labour intensive.Β Maybe a couple of solid days cumulatively?
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Wow. This is amazing and it has sucha strong statement.Β
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Very impressive technical artistry and the erotic content was very well alluded to, while being "covered" by the empowered lilith. Fantastic!Β
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I feel ashamed to look but can not look away.Β 'Her subjugation' and 'her defiance' is fully expressed and perfectly balanced. Haunting and sad.
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Very nice picture and story. Here in northern Europe we had before 1000 years of christianity a matriarchal culture. Not much left of that, but some shadows and old stories remained. There are always some nostalgic people ( or are they ahaed of their time???) that suggest to go back to such a way of life.
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The two images layered on each other is so interesting. You did a fantastic job of aligning them. It's beautiful, really. Great job
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This is a beautiful design that would have probably liked Hans Bellmer.
Bravo
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Totally thinking the same here,
This is so wonderful! I do not know which face is more saddening, both so cold.
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Wow, you really mastered your skills 
The concept is also great ^^
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this is amazing. I absolutely love that you used only shades of gray for it. it's like lilth was a grey spot of eden, that no one talks about :}.
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This is so powerful. you captured her submission and defiance beautifully. Well Done!
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i can see her vagina. isnt that inappropriate??
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really like how it shows almost two sides, her unwilling submission then her defiance.
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Captivating and elegant, very nicely done. The two images intrigue me, were you showing the contrast between the submissive open figure like Eve was made to suggest and the strong defiant and closed off stature of Lilith? Or is it a comment on Lilith's fate being forcefully subdued by the archangels?
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This is sooo beautiful. I can truely see that Defiance andΒ Submission, or as you depicted in your summary; as two sidesΒ of a coin or of a woman's state of defination. Excellent job!
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I know maybe it's not what you intended, but when I look at it I see the power of a woman who wants to decide when she'll say yes and when she'll say no. She has the autonomy to make her decisions and follow her desires, and her sexuality isn't there to serve anyone but herself.
It bothers me a little that you described it as "her subjugation and her defiance" - ther being, when she "closes" herself she's in defiance, but when she's "open" she's being subjugated. It sounds a little... rapey for me. So I'll stick with my interpretation. Hehehe...
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Exquisite work! That transparency effect must have been very difficult to create; it would take a century for me to take a stab at that. I love the stark contrast in her poses and facial expressions; they are just bursting with emotion.
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really beautiful, but... is being on the bottom really "inferior"? it's easier on the woman, isn't it? less work, and it's better for conception, and if you know about metaphysics then you know that male energy extends forward while female energy retreats, sooooo as far as sexual positions go it's way more natural for the men to be "pushing forward" and the woman to be at the end of that pushing, than the other way around. i always found that sex when being on the top (I'm a girl) feels less natural and more contrived. idk. maybe lilith is just a woman who's never happy with anything. but anyway, the drawing is great. it speaks to me about a woman who doesn't love her man yet still feels the pleasure of his sex. her face is fabulous.
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I believe when it's said that Lilith didn't want to be on the bottom sexually, it doesn't mean literally. It's symbolic of her not wanting to be there only to please her husband or submit to him, but she wanted to be in the same position of autonomy and importance on the relationship. Nothing to do with preferences on being with your body on top or on the bottom. I also would like to disagree on your statement about female and male energies. Though it is considered that "female energy retreats and male energy extends forward", men and women are not representants of these energies purely. Every person, men and women, have both principles in them, some more, others less, and it can change in different moments of their lives. I think it's dangerous to consider that women are the incarnation of said "feminine", or "passive" energy, because this idea is culturally used to keep women in a subordinate social place, as if it was their nature to be so.
Regarding sex positions, I think every person will have their preferences. Certainly there are a lot of women who prefer to be on top and active, and a lot of men would like to be at the bottom. No gendered rules. Everyone just enjoy and be happy
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"I think it's dangerous to consider that women are the incarnation of said "feminine", or "passive" energy, because this idea is culturally used to keep women in a subordinate social place, as if it was their nature to be so."
I think that's a sweeping statement, and I disagree with it anyway, but w/e. It's a touchy subject. Subordination carries a lot of connotation, it depends on how you look at it, as does the question of "the nature to be so" or "ontology." By the same token, you could say it's dangerous to encourage androgyny within individuals, both physically and psychologically, for all the studies showing androgyny as a serious factor in the adverse disintegration of the western-society's family structure (emphasis on adverse, because for some people family structure can be more hazardous than good, and that's totally respectable).
Dangerous considerations from all angles, but everyone has a right to think/say them 
And as far as the idea that there are no gendered rules: well, that's your opinion, it's not a fact. Many brilliant thinkers, biologists, psychologists, theologians, philosophers ponder the question of gendered rules and roles and there's no proof either way. I mean, it's your choice to believe that there aren't, but maybe someone from another culture or a particular religion can argue that there are. It's their prerogative. Like you said, whatever makes you happy, but I don't think everyone will agree that there are no gender rules, and I think people can be happy with gender roles. There are many studies asking Muslim women's opinions on their wearing hijaabs or burqas and data shows that there are certainly plenty self-respecting women who are more than happy living a life that perhaps a westerner would call "subordinate in society" because of her conditions.
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It seems to me you didn't quite get what I meant. I wasn't saying it's FORBIDDEN to accept or be happy within gender roles, though I personally believe that *compulsory* gender rules can't be good for anyone. I was saying there were no ultimate gender rules one should follow, and everyone should be free to do what makes them happy, without thinking what is "rightest" for a woman or a man to do. And believing all women are "naturally" or "intrinsically" passive is, yes, an idea that has to do with women's oppression in society, for it carries the concept that she was made for being dominated. Balance is needed. In chinese philosophy, every person, men and women, has the two principles - feminine and masculine - inside them. No one is exclusively one or another. While a female individual can, of course, be happy following whatever rules of gender in the society she lives, that doesn't mean this same society won't see her (and women in general) as inferior, objectifieable, rapeable, and so on, and that she will suffer the negative effects of this vision upon her in her life. And that's the problem I was pointing to.
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