paper & wire, 12 x 5.4 x 3.8 cm
Didn't think much of any particular history while making this spoon as it just so happened that I found the text torn in half among my paper scraps. The meaning of the word as his-story struck me. Isn't that the truth?
Recently, I came across some beautiful photographs of traditional clothing and textiles on Pinterest, which somehow led to some disturbing images of Chinese bound feet and half-naked mutilated eunuchs. I know they existed but didn't know the bound feet have been around for more than a thousand freakin' years and the eunuchs twice as long. Both were not banished until the 20th century. How could it take so long for something so wrong to stop happening? From the last eunuch I can almost understand but the ugly painful bound feet? Not really.
John said I am not understanding how deeply rooted the kind of thinking was at the time. Maybe I would do it too, given the circumstances. Those bound feet actually were never given a choice since their mothers/guardians started binding them as early as 3 or 4 years old to stop them from growing. So a grown woman with the size of a three-year-old feet was ideal beauty at the time. How could that be ok for a time span of a millennium? That's like 30 generations of billions and billions of women not being able to run freely for life.
Is it not much different now? What things will future generations look at us and be horrified about?
This really resonates with me right now - I've been feeling angry about a few injustices relating to how women shoulder so much work and responsibility and how little worth this seems to have to the wider community.
ReplyDeleteNot comparable to mutilation, denial of education.... But still shit.
So, true, Mien, and Claire. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteSurely there are things that will be seen as so wrong in the future. Hopefully they'll get it all right.
Gp