By snoadmin
The womanly mysteries and beauties alike, unquestionably throughout time, have always been admired. From a woman’s sadness to her fire, or her innocence to indecisiveness, it’s all been discussed.
But, somewhere, in some way, we might always stand back and ask with a puzzled face, “Who are women, anyway?”
The conversation went like this for about 20 minutes, standing around with two young Long Beach men who had, like me, just finished attending the last colorful fragment of the first annual Women’s History Month Celebration at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach.
To our entertainment, the two men and I walked around the exhibit “Metamorphosis: The Many Faces of the Evolution of the Female Image,” an exhibit deliberately planned as the museum’s kickoff to its ambitious two-day festival held March 15 and March 16, which coincide with Women’s History Month, which is March, if you hadn’t noticed.
First, there was the natural tendency to wonder who all the women dressed in glimmering metal jewelry or in a swaying white dress were in the numerous paintings of various artistic styles. Each image was definitely noticeable and stirred such wondering that one could only confirm the idea that women are just to arouse, to excite and to not have such a bold definition, but rather be elastic and bend with nature, time and labels.
But after coming back to Earth, the boys and I looked at each other and said, “This can’t be right! Most of these artists are men.” And, yes, they were: Francisco, Claudio, etc. Even one of the paintings is titled “Bearded Woman.” (And that was a really ugly woman.)
Wouldn’t the title of the exhibition, and even the theme of the first day’s panel discussions, “Women in Society,” be a contradictory to the absence of women in this exhibit? Where were the women artists in society?
As the first day of the festival highlighted, however, there are many women to celebrate within the museum’s confines and in society, where many ideas are being exchanged and manifested.
The strength of the festival inspired the notion of creating something new, a talent that women are naturally given. Perhaps those two men in the corridors will always have fuzzy ideas on what women are supposed to do in the world. But, women ultimately have an idea, a little inspiration inside to produce, to craft, to be artistic.
That was, most importantly, the biggest interchange between the empowered panelists who made individual speeches on their reflections of being women and how that fits in with their businesses or specialties in life, whether their careers were centered in the political arena, the artistic sphere or in the high-reaching realm of academia.
There was a wide, diverse audience, from young girls from elementary school to older women strolling in with their walkers, who were absorbing the wonderful interchange.
Women like Long Beach City Council member Tania Reyes Uranga, and Mexican artist Becky Guttin, were just few of the top-notch community members invited to speak on the panels.
Sunday was like a fireworks show, seeing the beautiful colors and ribbons of jarabe and folklorico dances, while families gathered to admire the motion and beauty of women.
