The Red Tent - An Unforgettable Testimony to Women’s Strength and Power

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The Red Tent - An Unforgettable Testimony to Women’s Strength and Power

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant illuminates one of the greatest testimonies to women’s strength: childbirth. On a creative level, Diamant did something extraordinary. She took a small passage from the Bible about the character Dinah, and made her story into an unforgettable testimony to women’s strength and power. Overlooking women’s role in Biblical life is easy because there is practically nothing written by or about women. Even though Diamant’s story is fictionalized, there is truth in showing that women did exist, that there was a very important role played by women of that time period, and in showing the power and strength of women in a way that can never be forgotten.

Images inspired by Diamant’s work flooded my conscious. Perhaps I was experiencing flashes of my rememory, my collective unconscious coming to life on the paper in front of me. However, it was not just The Red Tent providing me with stimulation, but other works such as Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf, Mary Oliver’s “The Fish,” Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party” and The Book of Genesis. Each work embodied themes of childbirth and motherhood to self-love and social standing, in which I could find connections that affected me creatively. Aesthetically, I intended my visual art to be full and consistent in texture and fecund in my use of sensuous lines. My hope is to celebrate women and the strength that comes from battling adversity, challenge, victimization and in actualizing the power of childbirth. In all of these works, a connection is made: these are stories of women that need to be remembered and cel...

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...or the strength and power that they possess. Inspired by other great women artists, my intent was to capture that strength and power brought to life through their words. In a world where women’s lives, contributions and powers are easily overlooked and forgotten, my hope is to give a voice to the strength of women.

Works Cited

Diamant, Anita. The Red Tent. New York: Picador, 1997.

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Penguin Group, 1987.

Oliver, Mary. “The Fish.” Twelve Moons. Little, Brown and Co., 1979.

Shange, Ntozake. “for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf.” Ed. 1st Collier Books. Ntozake Shange: New York, 1977.

Sullivan, Stephanie. The Dinner Party. N.pag. On-line. Internet. 7 May 2001 Available WWW: http://public.csusm.edu/public/thedinnerparty/index.html

The Catholic Study Bible, The Book of Genesis.

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