Tricks + Treats + Visual Feats
witch /wiCH/ - noun
a woman thought to have magic powers, especially evil ones, popularly depicted as wearing a black cloak and pointed hat and flying on a broomstick.
verb: cast an evil spell on.
Angela Deane. Witches are dog people too.
The phrase “witch hunt” has found its way into mainstream rhetoric lately, thanks to he who shall not be named, who tweeted the term over 300 times while serving as our leader. Just this morning, I heard a news report that quoted Andrew Cuomo as believing he is the latest victim of “a political witch hunt.” Of late, this description gets thrown into interviews and articles to water down questionable actions that ask an individual to be held responsible for their actions. The irony is that witches have been literally burned at the stake and hung for simply minding their own business. Throughout history, witches have been labeled as the cause for multiple ills: disease, weather, infertility. However, today, witches are making a comeback as strong, independent, and powerful women. Several art exhibitions have highlighted this resurgence, featuring many artists who identify as witches.
In 2020, the Jeffrey Deitch gallery in Los Angeles opened All of Them Witches. An exhibit inspired by “incantations, wishes, and curses.” The show featured artists “exploring power, the body, and gender through supernatural lenses.”
Trulee. "Hall Witch House" (2020). Wood, paper mache, resin, fabric, stuffing, fake fur, synthetic hair, altered sex dolls, acrylic paint, spray paint, found cornucopia baskets, found ceramic cornucopia, found crystal balls, convex mirror, polymer clay, hardware, LED candles, found candle holders, logs, sticks, volcanic rocks, projector screen, video. 13 feet x 14.5 feet x 17.5 feet. Photography Joshua White Courtesy Trulee
Installation view of Alison Blickle's "Do More Thinking" (2020), Audrey Flack's "Self Portrait as Suicidal Saint Theresa" (n.d.), Jane Kaplowitz's "Incantation" (2020), Judith Hudson's "Visitation" (2009), "Tame Your Emotions, Redirect Your Dreams" (2009),Photography Joshua White
The artist Kiki Smith, featured below, created “Pyre Woman Kneeling” to honor the women who were burned for their involvement in witchcraft.
Kiki Smith, “Pyre Woman Kneeling” (United States 2002). A bronze female figure tops a pyre. In Smith’s narrative style, the statue commemorates women who were burned for witchcraft. (© /La Monnaie de Paris, photo by Martin Argyroglo)
Artist Angele Deane has a series that focuses only on witches, while Alison Blickle depicts women engaged in mysterious ceremonies.
Angela Deane. Witches Go Left.
Angela Deane. Witches Swimming.
“Uncrossing” by Alison Blickle, oil on canvas and ceramics, 2015.
Witches’ Flight. Francisco Goya.
From the series Major Arcana: Witches in America. Frances F. Denny.
For those living in the Boston area, the local museums have created a haunting experience for you. The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem is running The Salem Witch Trial: Reckoning and Reclaiming through March 2021. Or you can wander over to the Granary Burying Ground on Boston’s Freedom Trail. The home to five thousand buried souls and thought to be haunted. The possibly haunted, historic Daniels Home, a bed and breakfast in Salem, has a story hour with candlelight tales of New England history.
The artist Francisco Goya used witches in his work as a direct response to the history of witch-hunts. Dr. Kathryn Turley-Sonne researched art and witchcraft in her dissertation, Curating the Contemporary Art Witch Movement. She writes that "Goya began to meld his 'gaze' with visual images of women and witches in a more pointed way." Turley-Sonne goes on to state that "the images of female witches as hags reinforced the repulsion that could be connected to the image, but interestingly, the images of them as seductresses complicated the image by blaming them for the fall of man – once again."
Photographer Frances F. Denny, whose work investigates female identities, has a series of portraits, Major Arcana: Witches in America. The artist is featured in The Salem Witch Trial exhibit in Salem. Denny's photographs present contemporary witches in America, depicted as everyday citizens. Removing the stigma that has historically been attached to the label.
In today’s modern society, witchcraft continues to thrive, and similar to many other groups, they continue to be misunderstood. Witchcraft is less about religion and more about spirituality. Not unlike many other beliefs. Gratefully, many artists are using their platforms to remind us of this reality.
Happy All Hallows Eve + stay safe.
trw
“Being a witch means living in this world consciously, powerfully, and unapologetically. ”