Artwork by Sarah Maple
Artist Sarah Maple, hailed as the heir to Tracey Emin by the Independent on Sunday, has produced a new print to add to her series. The sneak preview above is pretty cool but the full print's even better, and cheap at £10 too. I like Maple's poster works, especially the one that goes "I wish I had a penis [Maple in hijab and scarf], because then I'd fuck you [Maple in red harlot's bikini] then I'd steal your job [Maple in business suit]." Visit her site to purchase all this and learn more.
I should add, by the way, that I don't believe the opposite of a feminist is "an arsehole" and I find the distinction crude, although it makes for a very snappy poster. I think the inequalities and injustices oppressing women are more important than discussing what word we call ourselves, and I understand that people do not like to be labelled or to label themselves, as they find it unnatural or feel that they have to have an academic or theoretical grounding in something before they 'qualify' to label themselves in such a way. I am a feminist, I always have been, I always will be and I'm the daughter of one, but I describe myself as a writer, critic and broadcaster because that is what I do - and my belief in freedom, justice, equality and emancipation suffuse what I do, write and say. No woman has to call herself by any name, as long as we have a common belief in a few core things: the absolute total and utter savage wrongness of rape, domestic violence, harassment, marginalisation, discrimination, exploitation, objectification and victim-blaming... Once we've fought outwardly on these issues and put the responsibility where it belongs (on the perpetrators and their apologists), then we can talk among ourselves about what the opposite of a feminist is. I'd say, a patriarch.
