Judy Chicago: Revelations
“‘And the wall became a scream of birth, this birth for it was the birth of the Universe . . .’”
Get ready to travel through dazzling illustrations, imitating medieval illuminated manuscripts, with visceral words and art. The lines of the poetry and prose throb and pulsate across each page. The solar system becomes a river like the waters of birth and the cells of the body mutate into a mountain. Tree roots sprout arteries and veins. And breasts are volcanoes, shooting milk.
Revelations is the culmination of Judy Chicago’s earlier works, showing as a catalog of the same exhibition, in museums in the United States and Europe. “Central to my concept for the book was a challenge to the idea of a male God, which is found throughout contemporary cultures . . . and “the foundations for this book are to subvert the patriarchal Genesis myth from a female perspective.”
Considered as a radical artist, Chicago’s art defies the normal structure used by other artists. “Chicago contests the absence and erasure of women from the Western historical canon, developing a distinctive visual vocabulary that situates women’s personal and collective experiences.” Her art portrays her views on feminism and a patriarchal society, and “the transformative power of art . . .” She imagines the beginning of creation, beginning with “In the beginning . . .” using poetry and prose to cement her views.
In her books, themes which Chicago express are masculinity, Jewish identity, birth and creation, goddess worship, and notions of power. She believes that we have to change our lethal patriarchal society and recognize women’s role in creation. Why is God referred as He? Is it possible that the deity is a She?
Revelations takes the reader on a journey to the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and into the 20th century, relating biblical stories from the violent rule between men and women and to the hope for a peaceful world.
Chicago recreates the creation of the world, using biblical references from the Old and New Testaments, starting with “In the beginning . . . all was dark and chaotic.” Then a screaming woman during birth becomes a visual wall. The screams of its birth sends forth circles of ssound whirled through a void, forming a great shape. “And the wail became a scream of birth, this birth for it was the birth of the Universe . . . and out of this labor were born all of the planets, and they were the daughters of the Universe, and that was the work of the first day.”
“And Woman brought forth the human race and male and female she birthed them.” She was the Goddess of the earth and the moon, and women lived in peace. But, in time, the men rebelled against the Goddess and chaos was born. The men worshipped graven images, slew the women, and tried to destroy the Goddess. Then arose the voice of the Great Goddess: “Slowly, your brothers will re-recreate in their own image and likeness, and the power of your Goddess will be usurped by a multitude of male Gods. In my generation, some of your daughters and their daughters must be my Apostles and my Disciples . . .” So societies became patriarchal and the women depended on their views and lost their independence. In her seminal work The Dinner Party, is a sculpture of a table and chairs. The Goddess squishes each apostle’s head onto this table. Their misshapen heads recall Jesus’ pain and a calling to women to rise again and reshape the world.
Women were blamed for the plague and were burned at the stake. These women (called witches) were accused of inspiring lust through copulating with the devil and other outlandish accusations. “A large proportion of the women burned as witches were healers who served the peasant population, which had neither doctors nor hospitals.” But there were some women who protested the oppression of women. One was Queen Elizabeth 1, who was a renowned scholar in the 16th century and a fervent supporter of female education. “In 1558, Elizabeth, whose birth her father’s disappointment because she was born female, ascended the throne . . . and brought peace prosperity to a country previously torn apart by turmoil.”
By the 20th century, the suffrage movement gained women the right to vote. Women became independent and allowed to forge their points of view. After a period of war waged by men against women, each l woman lamented: “Oh, men of the world, hear us, so spoke every woman. . . . Nevermore shall you treat us in the old ways, for we have seen a vision.” The women continued that if they are guilty of wanting a better world and means that putting aside old ideas of manliness, so be it.
“And then all that had divided them merged
And then compassion was wedded to power . . .
And then no person was subject to another’s will.”
The Book of Revelations concludes with the Apocalypse. Chicago’s version ends in peace and harmony.