Self-Portrait - Women's Rights are Human Rights Painting

This is a self-portrait done with oils and oil pastels on canvas. I took a photo of myself first, then painted the photo. This symbolic imagery refers to my rights as a woman in a country that has a long history of oppression towards girls and women and who is just beginning to blossom out of those modes of thinking. When I was just 16 years old, a much older man tried to force me to marry him and raped me violently and with a weapon when I refused. Growing up, I noticed in the work place some highly unethical male bosses who took advantage of women and although were sometimes not as honest or ethical, were promoted to positions of power just the same. I have witnessed severe brutal rapes being swept under the justice department's rug in America for the law typically sided with male perpetrators. In the 2000's I called Hillary Clinton's office in New York and told her to run for president. Thus, she did and twice over. She is currently campaigning for her position. It will be the first time a female will be in the president's position. My painting sheds light, for women must take charge, stand up for our rights collectively, stop the violence and rapes through interactive and positive legal action, educate the people, including youth who sometimes grow up in misogynistic and volatile environments; whereas, girls and women are pushed to the side, economically deprived, forced to be mothers and wives when they are not ready, deprived education and successful careers, swept aside for high paying positions, pushed to the back in the film, TV, and music industries while radio blasts 98% male musicians, vocalists, and bands; held back in production and film directing, taunted for working in secure jobs that typically hire males, and so forth. Much violence perpetrated against girls and women goes unreported for there is still a lack of education throughout schools in every school grade. The force of violence terrorizes girls and women so that they spend their lifetimes afraid of the male populace and cannot move ahead. Many girls and women do not know their own civil rights and their own right to safety and well-being. Although America sometimes points fingers at other nations, the inner turmoil and ongoing battery against girls and women is astronomical and intolerable. Rapes go on by the multitude, for girls are sometimes brought up thinking they are here on Earth for only men's satisfaction and for their gaze, which is their lusts. A young growing girl cannot entirely always realize her own higher excellence in life due to the ongoing collective male-orientated psychological, mental, and physical battering going on in every industry and throughout the entire legal justice system. The caustic effects of violence can hinder self-esteem and close the doors to opportunities. The economic policies stay in favor of male business people, who typically find favor with their ideas and practices, while women are kept as hostages, as second-class citizens, and thought of "made to be in the kitchen only" or, “breeding” and “in the bedroom”. In the publishing fields, male writers are typically chosen by publishers and women held back because of their gender. In the scientific fields, women are still oppressed even though many great women may have found medical cures and great scientific finds but were pushed to the back because of a desire for gender-orientated dominance and pure stupidity. Throughout art history and as a University student, we are compelled and forced to study great male artists mostly. Rarely is a female artist mentioned, and the social and political atmosphere throughout history is typically male-orientated. This lopsided imbalance of equality or inequality subliminally and outright gives an immoral and illogical message to women who seek to excel in their chosen fields. My symbolic gloves tells of my life journey and while I was pushed down, beat down, raped, demoralized, and forced to abide by the immoral ways of mankind, I fought to get back up, to stay firm in the face of their insanity and their problematic desire for dominance and evil; I fought to help man find reasoning skills and the ability to be fair-minded, decent, and intelligent, instead of barbaric, cruel, sadistic, and controlling. My gloves are a symbol of “womanity” and “humanity” instead of just “mankind.” At the same time, there are many women who stand by and encourage male crimes against women and also participate in this severe delusion of power. They defeat their own cause and deprive themselves of their own higher excellence at the same time as perpetrating crimes against women, whether through outright rape and violence or by somehow depriving the freedom, individuality, and economic security of other women. My painting was an act of self-realization and discovery, for in painting myself I started to realize my worth, my value and who was trying to keep me as a hostage to poverty, to weakness and hopelessness, and who was envious of my need for independence, freedom, economic security, well-being and health; it was male perpetrators of crime who I have known, who wanted me but would not tolerate me as I was or am, who were envious of my need for freedom, my joy in my own gifts, and who saw me as chattel, property, something they controlled and owned and for their pleasure, instead of a human being with every right under and beyond the sun.

Painting:Oil on Canvas

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:30 W x 40 H x 750 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.