{"id":2273,"date":"2014-12-20T19:07:14","date_gmt":"2014-12-21T03:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.phyllischen.net\/?page_id=2273"},"modified":"2016-07-12T17:39:16","modified_gmt":"2016-07-13T01:39:16","slug":"lighting-the-dark","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.phyllischen.net\/index.php\/chroma\/lighting-the-dark\/","title":{"rendered":"Lighting The Dark"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153By turns poignant, humorous and virtuosic, Chen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s performance offered a slyly subversive take on issues relating to femininity, technology and power\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6the looping, spellbinding music\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6became a fitting tribute to the modest, repetitive, yet quietly heroic work of women.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> \u00e2\u20ac\u201cNew York Times (on Lighting The Dark)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"GirlsReading\"
\nLighting The Dark<\/em> (2014) was inspired by the women, stories and photographs from photojournalist Paola Gianturco<\/a>‘s books. The work uses toy pianos, clavichord, music boxes, accordion, electronics and was commissioned and premiered at the Baryshnikov Arts Center<\/a> in NYC on December 10, 2014. (Read about the concert in the New York Times<\/em><\/a>.)<\/p>\n

For the last several years, I have fallen in love with making music boxes. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just the timbre of it that I love, but its diminutive size and sense of intimacy when playing one. Growing up, I owned a music box with a spinning pink ballerina in the middle of it. As I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been working more with music boxes, I started to wonder why this ballerina figurine has never changed.\u00c2\u00a0 Is this really our ideal symbol of beauty, femininity and elegance?<\/p>\n

I decided to make new music boxes by swapping\u00c2\u00a0 old tunes with new original tunes and changing the figurines\/characters (made by puppeteer, Jordan Morley<\/a>) \u00c2\u00a0that lives inside of these boxes.\u00c2\u00a0 I wanted to create a more thoughtful depiction of women that is more relevant to us.<\/p>\n

When \u00c2\u00a0I came upon the incredible work of photojournalist Paola Gianturco<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0(\u00c2\u00a0who has photographed \u00c2\u00a0women in over 55 countries,) \u00c2\u00a0I was deeply moved by this artist\/activist that gave me new light in issues that feel near to me. \u00c2\u00a0I have become increasingly aware of global women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s issues\u00c2\u00a0 and the on-going brutalities that face so many women everywhere (particularly in less developed countries.)\u00c2\u00a0 As a mother to a daughter, there are times\u00c2\u00a0I feel blessed to live in such fortunate conditions and other times, I sense the fragility of the progress we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve made for women here and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

The issues that face many women around the world are dark, often causing me to break down in tears. How can we help each other or help them help themselves? Even in these\u00c2\u00a0dire situations, Paola shows us that there are inspiring women who are creating a wave of change, helping women in their own communities, \u00c2\u00a0some of which are the most tragic and desperate situations.\u00c2\u00a0 This change\u00c2\u00a0is happening and it will grow\u00c2\u00a0stronger so long that others join them, follow their momentum and example to continue moving forward. These incredible women, who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stories are documented in her five books, serve as an inspiration for me in creating this piece.<\/p>\n

Instead of directly depicting certain women in the music boxes, I decided to take four different environments or themes from her books. As I discovered in some of her stories, there are a variety of traditions where women ride a lit boat at night to complete a ritual in their cultures.\u00c2\u00a0 This image of traversing dark waters with a single light spoke to me as a courage these women have.<\/p>\n

\"boat\"<\/p>\n

In some places, women complete the role of mother, nurturer, caretaker, worker and farmer simultaneously, never failing to be a provider for families emotionally and physically on a daily basis. This role of mother and worker is one that translates to all cultures and I wanted to celebrate this in the second music box.<\/p>\n

\"felt\"<\/p>\n

One prominent issue in many countries is raising girls\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 literacy.\u00c2\u00a0 Girls education is often sacrificed for numerous reasons, making them more vulnerable to physical violence and less likely to become independent. However, there have been great efforts made world-wide to educate young girls.<\/p>\n

\"GirlsReading\"<\/p>\n

Finally, as Paola shows us in her book Grandmother Power<\/em>, many grandmothers are raising their children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s children and fighting courageously for their grandchildren to live in a better future. As Paola says, she realized the future of the world is in these grandmother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hands.<\/p>\n

\"Grandma\"<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>Even in dark moments, it is possible for us to contribute something to make a positive change. As an artist, I feel thankful to the Baryshnikov Arts Center for having\u00c2\u00a0a conscious time and space to share something with you. This piece is dedicated to Paola Gianturco, all the incredible women who light the dark<\/a>, and the woman that has done\u00c2\u00a0that most in my life, my mother.<\/p>\n

\"poalaphyllis\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153By turns poignant, humorous and virtuosic, Chen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s performance offered a slyly subversive take on issues relating to femininity, technology and power\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6the looping, spellbinding music\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6became a fitting tribute to the modest, repetitive, yet quietly heroic work of women.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201cNew York Times (on Lighting The Dark) Lighting The Dark (2014) was inspired by the women, stories and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":83,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.phyllischen.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2273"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.phyllischen.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.phyllischen.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.phyllischen.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.phyllischen.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2273"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.phyllischen.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2528,"href":"http:\/\/www.phyllischen.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2273\/revisions\/2528"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.phyllischen.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/83"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.phyllischen.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}