Betty Kovacic
The poem “Uninvited” is a written expression of ideas and responses by the poets Carrie Jenkins and Carla Nappi to “Symposium”. I embraced their words and imbued them with visibility. The multiplicity of elements echoes the multi-layered structure of the poem.
The two focal women, sourced from a 1920s photo, are my symbols for the Suffragette movement. It too, was a form of the invisible, uninvited, talking back. Like the ´Me Too” and “Times Up” movements, these passionate women made it impossible for men and women to ignore their voices and actions. They invited themselves to become visible.
Other female figures represent those ignored in the “Symposium”. I made room for the flute girl, saved the sacrificial daughter, to give her a happy ever after ending with her betrothed. The deer will be honored, the burden of stones removed from Medusa, and Diotima given the gift of a visual existence. I acknowledged Sappho’s poetry. I invited them all to enter my art piece.
I appropriated other profound words and images, then transformed them into symbols, forms, and text. The moon is an ancient female symbol. Bubbles, ladders, numbers, and art from ancient Greece, were all integrated. The painting is surrealistic and expressive in nature thereby echoing the format and content of the poem itself.
An indigenous artist once commented that my art gave voice to those unheard. I believe it also brings visibility to those unseen or unnoticed. As an artist I have frequently been compelled to create work dealing with social injustice or issues too often ignored by much of society. In this way I give form to the invisible, uninvited, and unwanted.
The concept of invisibility in women’s history and current life continues to be an issue of equality. I believe it still exists, in a myriad of forms in many fields and is relevant to much of my life’s work.
Inviting Visibility, 2021
