Macaulay Honors College, Fall 2014
Elijah Blumofe
Her voice beckons me from the depths of the kitchen,
her words are urgent, a heated invite.
Her lips taste like chocolate.
Time slows on that treacherous clock…
Her body is my temple.
I take her into my arms, and the room fades to black.
Elijah Blumofe
Gallery Reflection/Review: Siona Benjamin’s “Lilith”
Siona Benjamin has become acknowledged and lauded among artistic circles for her portrayals of multiethnicity as identity, forged from her own experience as a Sephardi Jew living in religiously cacophonous India (where she was surrounded by Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh, and Farsi Zoroastrian communities). Her worldly motifs and imagery are reflected in a predominantly feminist vein, and it has become her signature to develop pieces centered around stunningly azure viragos, reminiscent of Hindu goddesses, yet often exhibiting traits of one or more other cultures in vivid and engaging contrast. This piece in question, titled “Lilith” (written in Hebrew script in the foreground) is one of a series of works that utilizes this technique, as well as exemplifies her preoccupation with controversial female figures (Lilith being a favorite subject of hers, whom she represents often in her work). In the painting, the Lilith figure is engulfed in flames, clad in striped prison clothes and a nun’s habit, and placidly sits cross-legged in a fertile garden, where she waters what appear, from a vertically cut side view, to be mythical mandrakes (if not actual fetuses). The mandrake babes, rooted below the strikingly crimson earth, are the most obvious and drawing feature of the piece, and correspond fittingly with the midrash surrounding Lilith (begging the ominous question of what Lilith intends to do with these botanical infants), and certainly conjure a sense of the macabre, yet I find of particular interest the fire which surrounds Lilith—red at it’s core, it graduates to yellow and finally to green, evoking an almost none threatening multi-chromatic splendor, and giving Lilith an aura of fertility and grace. From this, we may gather that Benjamin intends to portray Lilith as a matronly, life-giving force (rather than simply a demonic harvester), and a strong female figure who has perhaps been improperly represented throughout history (this sentiment too is alluded to by her prison garb, a classic symbol of oppression). In short, “Lilith” is a riveting piece, and a refreshing homage to biblical literature, which invokes the cross-cultural universality of symbology, civil issues, and belief systems.
“Closing my eyes and isolating the world within my mental sensation, I am quickly transported to some primeval field, lush and glorious. I am reminded of the Manowar song ‘Master of the Wind’, and wonder if I would be savoring the wind more if I were truly in that field, living out the song’s lyrics, or whether vicarious fantasy—one of the most fundamental appeals of Heavy Metal, is equally fulfilling and perhaps even preferable to overly dynamic existence.”
Art is Living
Art is Dead
The Peony Pavilion is perhaps one of the most notable of the Ming era Kun Operas of China, and was presented at the Fall for Dance production in a heavily abridged form, with an emphasis on dance over singing/dialogue. Despite this however, many operatic elements were present, including a glorious spectrum of costumes, makeup, color motifs, and ornate, beautiful props (i.e. the Prince’s gown, falling rose petals, etc.). Because of this operatic heritage, this segment of the show was overwhelmingly more lavish and stimulating than its co-performances, and such exciting grandiosity, along with a clearly conceived storyline, made it by far my favorite piece of the night. The dances themselves were ballet inspired, set to an assortment of distinguished Romantic-era classical Western pieces, including works by Debussy, Holst, Prokofiev, Ravel, and others. This cultural blending between the occident and the orient I found quite powerful, and a novel choice by the company, giving the piece in my opinion a universal context, and which projected a statement of Art as a uniting, global phenomenon. Condensing a 20 hour opera into a fifteen minute dance piece is a Herculean task, and admittedly, while I was impressed, it was somewhat difficult to follow the story. Despite this however, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, both due to the aforementioned reasons and the extreme grace, agility, and flowing movements expressed by the dancers, all of whom conducted themselves gorgeously and professionally, and, especially in contrast to the preceding piece, were able to come together to paint an aesthetic painting of movement, finesse, and chromatic splendor.
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