Pieces in the Mountains
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Entire write up available here: https://articleapp.co/s/6tveFfatZxP
"The mountain as metaphor looms large in the lives of marginalized people, people whose bones get crushed in the grind of capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy. How many of us have struggled up the mountain, measured ourselves against it, failed up there, lived in its shadow? We've hit our heads on glass ceilings, tried to climb the class ladder, lost fights against assimilation, scrambled towards that phantom called normality... Up there on the mountain, we confront the external forces, the power brokers who benefit so much from the status quo and come face-to-face with our own bodies, all that we cherish and despise, all that lies imbedded there. This I know because I caught myself lurching up the mountain." (Clare, 2015, p. 1-2).
As described by Clare (2015), the mountains are the summits of our world, where the hierarchies grow and the weak fall into the demise as created by those who are the king of the hills. That these existences place the focus of our attentions to be placed on own our bodies and the ability of performance (Clare, 2015, p. 1-2). As stated by Aurora Levins Morales, that there are differences but striking similarities found in the comparison of life stories between herself and Eli, but that together they experienced the sensation of the "rumbling in our bones" (- as cited in Clare, 2015, p. xii) due to the normative definitions of power placed on people (- as cited in Clare, 2015, p. xxi). This rumbling is reflective on the perspective taken in the art piece; the mountains are constructed with the pieces of our bodies, as for we are built into the mountains of our society, the construction and will of the world around us, and capturing us with the weight of mountains attached to our bodies. The metaphor used by Clare (2015) of our bodies being stolen, however, can be reclaimed through acknowledgement of these powers that are not our own creation of thievery's influence reflects the metaphorical meaning of the attachment of bodies to mountains as I've described previously and that to move past these forces would be to move mountains;
"Body as home, but only if it is understood that place and community and culture burrow deep into ur bones... Body as home, but only if it is understood that bodies can be stolen, fed lies and poison, torn away from us... Body as home, but only if it is understood that they stolen body can be reclaimed" (Clare, 2015, p. xiv).
"Skin of our bodies and skin of the world" (Clare, 2015, p. xix), Morales explains, the need to reclaim the body by reaching under the skin to identify the social and cultural impacts placed on it and highlighting the need to challenge these dynamic definitions of what is known as 'being' (- as cited in Clare, 2015, p. xix). Each mountain with each body part in the painting represents the social and cultural constructions placed on bodies, from the construction of other (Clare, 2015, p. 86), gender (Clare, 2015, p. 130), identity (Clare, 2015, p. 143), the medicalized gaze and objectifying gazes (Clare, 2015, p. 127), naturalistic or relation of body to nature (Clare, 2015, p. 145), sexuality (Clare, 2015, p. 131), race or whiteness (Clare, 2015, p. 10), stolen or thievery (Clare, 2015, p. 12), criminalization and violence (Clare, 2015, p. 167), disability and ableism (Clare, 2015, p. 83), intelligence (Clare, 2015, p. 83), ethnicity and assimilation (Clare, 2015, p. 116), and parenting and ability to have children (Clare, 2015, p. 133).
Entire write up available here: https://articleapp.co/s/6tveFfatZxP
"The mountain as metaphor looms large in the lives of marginalized people, people whose bones get crushed in the grind of capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy. How many of us have struggled up the mountain, measured ourselves against it, failed up there, lived in its shadow? We've hit our heads on glass ceilings, tried to climb the class ladder, lost fights against assimilation, scrambled towards that phantom called normality... Up there on the mountain, we confront the external forces, the power brokers who benefit so much from the status quo and come face-to-face with our own bodies, all that we cherish and despise, all that lies imbedded there. This I know because I caught myself lurching up the mountain." (Clare, 2015, p. 1-2).
As described by Clare (2015), the mountains are the summits of our world, where the hierarchies grow and the weak fall into the demise as created by those who are the king of the hills. That these existences place the focus of our attentions to be placed on own our bodies and the ability of performance (Clare, 2015, p. 1-2). As stated by Aurora Levins Morales, that there are differences but striking similarities found in the comparison of life stories between herself and Eli, but that together they experienced the sensation of the "rumbling in our bones" (- as cited in Clare, 2015, p. xii) due to the normative definitions of power placed on people (- as cited in Clare, 2015, p. xxi). This rumbling is reflective on the perspective taken in the art piece; the mountains are constructed with the pieces of our bodies, as for we are built into the mountains of our society, the construction and will of the world around us, and capturing us with the weight of mountains attached to our bodies. The metaphor used by Clare (2015) of our bodies being stolen, however, can be reclaimed through acknowledgement of these powers that are not our own creation of thievery's influence reflects the metaphorical meaning of the attachment of bodies to mountains as I've described previously and that to move past these forces would be to move mountains;
"Body as home, but only if it is understood that place and community and culture burrow deep into ur bones... Body as home, but only if it is understood that bodies can be stolen, fed lies and poison, torn away from us... Body as home, but only if it is understood that they stolen body can be reclaimed" (Clare, 2015, p. xiv).
"Skin of our bodies and skin of the world" (Clare, 2015, p. xix), Morales explains, the need to reclaim the body by reaching under the skin to identify the social and cultural impacts placed on it and highlighting the need to challenge these dynamic definitions of what is known as 'being' (- as cited in Clare, 2015, p. xix). Each mountain with each body part in the painting represents the social and cultural constructions placed on bodies, from the construction of other (Clare, 2015, p. 86), gender (Clare, 2015, p. 130), identity (Clare, 2015, p. 143), the medicalized gaze and objectifying gazes (Clare, 2015, p. 127), naturalistic or relation of body to nature (Clare, 2015, p. 145), sexuality (Clare, 2015, p. 131), race or whiteness (Clare, 2015, p. 10), stolen or thievery (Clare, 2015, p. 12), criminalization and violence (Clare, 2015, p. 167), disability and ableism (Clare, 2015, p. 83), intelligence (Clare, 2015, p. 83), ethnicity and assimilation (Clare, 2015, p. 116), and parenting and ability to have children (Clare, 2015, p. 133).