Second post for Women's History Month - ART

Grief and love coexist in art

"Suse Lowenstein lost her eldest son, college student Alexander Lowenstein, in the Pan Am 103 bombing in 1988. Her grief is still very present — but now, it lives alongside love and remembrance in an art piece years in the making.

But hundreds of other mothers, partners, siblings and friends lost their beloveds that day. So more than a decade after the devastating attack, she invited 75 women whose loved ones were killed in the attack to her home in New York. Together in her yard, they disrobed and recreated the positions they were in when they learned the life-altering news. Lowenstein photographed them all in the most vulnerable state of their lives.

And in the years that followed, Lowenstein turned the 75 women into sculptures. Some of the women in her yard banged their fists on the ground; others buried their faces in their hands. Almost all of them fell to the ground. The women are grieving — but by baring their souls (and bodies) for art, they’re refusing to let their loved ones’ memories die with them. Inside each sculpture is a memento of the loved one they lost — a shoelace, an earring, a sock — all placed near where the figure’s heart would be. The sculpture Lowenstein made of herself, on her knees doubled over in grief, contains a photo she took with her late son.

“It’s a reminder of the tragic loss and brings mixed emotions of grief and sorrow,” she said of the art piece. “But it’s also a source of connection and comfort because it represents a gift to the victims.”

Tis piece was from a "5 Good Things" E-Mail to which I subscribe. I chose to add it to my March Women's History Month blog posts because a teacher with whom I worked years ago also lost a son to the Pan Am 103 crash. We only have seen one another once a year at a Christmas party we used to attend, but when I saw her she would tell me the latest event she attended with her husband to commemorate the tragic even in Lockerbie, Scotland. She and her husband also have a daughter, and I always thought that was a saving grace. For those of us with only one child, I can't imagine what it would take to be able to go on in the world after such a devastating loss. Committing yourself to some kind of action would be like clinging to a life raft, I imagine. One of my favorite artists has always been Kathe Kollwitz, German artist and anti-war activist who lost her only son in World War !. She did a now famous work called Nie Wieder Krieg in 1924. It has stood as a symbol for peace activists for a hundred years!

From the National Museum of Women's History for March: Women's History Month

March’s Curated Book Recommendation

 Normal Women: Nine Hundred Years of Making History

by Philippa Gregory

FROM BOOKSHOP.ORG

In this ambitious and groundbreaking book, she [Gregory] tells the story of England over 900 years, for the very first time placing women—some fifty per cent of the population—center stage.

Using research skills honed in her work as one of our foremost historical novelists, Gregory trawled through court records, newspapers, and journals to find highwaywomen and beggars, murderers and brides, housewives and pirates, female husbands and hermits. The “normal women” you will meet in these pages went to war, ploughed the fields, campaigned, wrote, and loved. They rode in jousts, flew Spitfires, issued their own currency, and built ships, corn mills, and houses. They committed crimes or treason, worshipped many gods, cooked and nursed, invented things, and rioted. A lot.

A landmark work of scholarship and storytelling, Normal Women chronicles centuries of social and cultural change—from 1066 to modern times—powered by the determination, persistence, and effectiveness of women.

Pick up a copy from your favorite local bookstore here or at your local library.