Sunday 27 April 2008

Patriarchal Plumbing: Diana Raw’s Patriarchal Nightmares


























Diana sent these pictures of her work a couple of weeks ago; this seems to be a good moment to post them. Patriarchal Nightmares was the title of an exhibition which formed part of her MA at Sunderland University. She chose plumbing systems as the image of her patriarchal nightmare pictured here in dodgy, unreliable and extremely leaky looking form. The image is particularly apt because of what she describes as its ‘pervasiveness’: it is so commonplace that we often don’t notice it. She considers patriarchy to be a ‘framework of our society’ associated with ‘control’, ‘supply’ and ‘testosterone,’ for which the plumbing is a metaphor. Diana’s taps look unconvinced about their usefulness. The water supply may be an essential service but she clearly doesn’t rate the testosterone.
Your homework this week: Will they be emblematic of Boris Johnson's forthcoming reign as Mayor of London? Discuss.

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