FEMMAGE

Curator: Dr. Nira Tessler

​

In view of the International Women's Day, the Femmage group exhibition looks into traditional women craft and its place in today's Art.

​

Kiss of a Spider Woman 

Debbie Oshrat

 

A collage made of nine patchwork arrays. I collect used Tea Bags and sew them together as a subbase, some of them I paint in black ink. On the subbase I work in mixed technics integrating Embroidery and Drawing. This is my way of bringing to live old substance in ancient feminine technics.

 

Arachne from the Greek mythology was a very gifted weaver, who challenged Athena – the goddess of Wisdom, Art, War and Justice. Athena was enraged at the perfection of her rival’s work and tore it to pieces. In despair Arachne hung herself, but Athena out of pity loosened the rope which became a cobweb and changed Arachne to a spider.

As the roman poet Ovid wrote:

"A spider’s bag the rest, from which she gives

A thread, and still by constant weaving lives”.

​

The Spider woman weaves the reality through her cobweb, it represents strength, inner strength, and feminine energies. She is bewitching and pulling the invisible threads of life.... She is a combination of gentleness and strength, life, death and destiny.

 

 

​