“Dueling Women,” “Bearing,” and “Glass Ceiling”
by
Ildikó Kalapács
Click to enlarge.
Europe has had a history of dueling women since the 15th century. In the 19th century, female duels emulated men’s ways of settling disagreements and scores. Women fought with a naked upper body. My interpretation here features women wearing pants, as a shift toward a form of feminist assertion.
Women share a huge burden of suffering in wars, and they carry the weight of supporting men and their communities, including nurturing and feeding. It has been an understated fact that women are often marginalized and seldom supported during and after armed conflicts.
I use images of women as boxers and female fighters (a Soviet Russian photograph of female armed forces members) with a background of textiles from different cultures. The inclusion of women in male-dominated roles started in Europe with socialism, as this historic photograph shows. But in the 21st century, we are still debating which societal roles women are fit for women, demonstrating that it is still an uphill battle for inclusion and acceptance.
© Ildikó Kalapács. Courtesy of the artist.