Last night some freshly composed witches songs were out, out for the first time on the edge of Dartmoor.
A friend, Sian Jamison, has, inspired by a book, written a collection of music inspired by stories of Welsh witches. Inspired by her music I have started to paint contemporary images of women who live amongst us and who would in previous times have been considered ‘other’. Non-conformist, clever, opinionated, feminists. Women who change, support, and shape their communites without the entitlement or bravado of the masculine style of community engagement. My witches, unlike Sian’s are not quite ready to be out,out. Since starting this project I realise that you cannot rush a contemporary witch. She or they will take their own sweet time to emege from the music.
I am not a natural figure painter but for the last couple of years I have painted storms as people, Some benign and some absolutely with malign intent.Swimmers of all shapes and sizes and mermaids with more on their minds than attracting or engaging the matelots gaze or lascivious thoughts.Now I am reimagining witches. Not particularly, or at all as mythical or historical figures, and not as they are traditionally portrayed. My witches don’t wear black, my mermaids can be fierce, my storm bringers are unpredictable. They live the same lives as anyone else in the first half of the 21st century. Three of the witch pictures are ready to appear in the blog. I believe they are finished but until this project is complete I can never be sure.
Bog Witch. You can’t burn a Bog Witch.
Bella Fawr with little Betty.
Shape Shifting witches. Cat to woman/woman to cat.
In part it is easier to reimagine Welsh witches because unlike other places Wales did not persecute witches. They were seen as a benign and essential part of the community. Only causing trouble if provoked or disrespected.
My witches live amongst us, doing the school run, shopping in supermarkets, going on nights out.
They will have been amongst us last night on the edge of the moor.
what a wonderful project, using the arts to celebrate the lives, importance, and power of the witches. i didn’t know that wales took a different approach to witches, accepting them as part of their community, rather than persecuting them. the men in cultures who did punish them, (or continue to) feared them because of their powers to do what they could not do, so they said they must have dark magic within them, including giving birth.
to me, it seems the witches always understood the world, way beyond what the men could see or imagine and made the men feel impotent, and less than. the patriarchy continues. yes, the witches have always and do walk among us, and we are lucky for that.
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