Mutterzelt / Mother Tent
art-installation
A work of ritual, remembering and reconnection.
Dedicated to female voices of the past, present and future!
MUTTERZELT / MOTHER-TENT is a piece of installation art that stands in the name of feminine remembrance and female empowerment. It makes space for stories from the female collective, honoring our female ancestors and today's women's life stories.
The installation brings awareness to female principles and creates a space where people can contemplate their own relationship towards femininity and its role in their lives.
MUTTERZELT shines a light on the injustices the female sex has suffered over the course of human history to this very day and serves as a force of transformation and a way to reclaim the recognition and integration of female wisdom and power within individuals and within the human collective..
The final object of the installation will be a tent made of old-fashioned night gowns, open to the public.
A part of the nightgowns is made of my ancestors' old bed sheets.
The creative process itself reflects the aspect of the female collective and the sense of community by integrating other women's stories, memories, and visions into this piece of art.
The final act of MUTTERZELT will be the washing of the tent in the Atlantic Ocean after the exhibition.
The word Mutterzelt is a German word, made up by me. It consists of the words mother and tent and is a game of words referring to the German word Sternenzelt (tent of stars), meaning starry sky.
Just like star constellations, we as humans are part of a large collective field. We are intertwined with the great web of life, our ancestors, and the female collective.
The sewn-together dresses symbolise this connection. They form a hut, a tent, a little sanctuary where people can witness themselves being part of this large fabric of life and turn their attention to female "voices" of the past, present, and future.
The exploration of female body wisdom and femininity - as well as the contribution to female empowerment - is playing a central role in my life and has become a strong force in creating this artwork.
The making process includes working with the elements, rituals, and a deep connection with nature and the spiritual realm. It is a way to honour femininity, the rhythms and cycles of the earth, as well as to honour the rhythms and cycles of myself and the wisdom and creative forces that speak through me.
My own female ancestors have called me to create MUTTERZELT.
Within patriarchal structures of the time, our great-grandmothers, etc., had little freedom or opportunity to express themselves freely and be heard. As a result, many words remained unspoken and a lot of potential unrealised.*
Creating space for female qualities and female ancient life force means contributing to bringing the masculine and feminine back into balance – within individuals as well as within the collective.
Even though we've come a long way regarding women's rights and equality, we are still living in systems mostly dominated by patriarchal structures and masculine principles. This is causing a constant imbalance and can be seen as a root problem of a lot of the suffering that is taking place in this world right now.
Female aspects are inherent in everyone and everything, despite gender. MUTTERZELT can be seen as a memorial where people can get in touch with themselves and their personal, ancestral, and collective stories regarding femininity.
Many people have lost access to female principles. Modern Western society has created a culture in which a lot of repression, rejection, neglecting and shaming is taking place regarding femininity in all its depth.
Luckily, the remembering and reclaiming of the full spectrum, worth, and potential of the female self has started.
I see the making of MUTTERZELT as a sacred act - contributing to a much-needed transformation in this world.
*This may be true for many of our ancestors, regardless of gender, due to social and cultural contexts.
The making of the installation goes hand in hand with my own personal confrontation and exploration of the topic.
I am meeting myself, the world and its history, the female collective, and my ancestresses in vulnerable ways. I am witnessing all the wounding that has taken place over centuries, as well as all the beauty and inexhaustible life force pulsing through our very existence.
While expressing myself from my own personal point of view, I have a lot of respect and compassion for all the individual, intimate stories tied to this topic.
Only a small percentage of the sensations and messages I am receiving and processing wants to be shared through words. The rest of it will speak through the work itself.
I have a fascination for the way fabrics and clothes speak to me. When I make or wear them, they gain meaning, and something in them comes to life. They are no longer just "stuff" but a carrier of memories, energies, and stories.
When I look at a garment from my childhood, when I hold it in my hands, I see myself as a child, and for a moment, old surroundings, smells, sensations are brought to life in me.
It's the same with the making of MUTTERZELT - with each stitch, a puzzle piece of someone's memory is coming to life.
Female principles are quickly associated with mothering aspects like gentle and caring behaviour. But the fiery, fierce feminine is just as much part of the spectrum. To get a closer idea, it can be helpful to look into archetypes and mythological figures that embody these various aspects clearly, as well as to look into teachings about masculine and feminine principles.
The awareness of my multidimensional wholeness and the right to own who I truly am is part of this work.
Generations over generations, women and other minorities were forced to keep themselves small, to hold back, to obey. The traces of oppression are deeply engraved in our modern Western culture - and the majority of the time, it goes unnoticed. Questioning things the way they are and healing individual and cross-generational trauma are ways to build a ground for a truly just co-existence.
Not everyone who hears the words feminism or female empowerment gets happily excited like me ... Some people's reality has been shaped by women who were absent or who acted in dominant, violent, or abusive ways. So they might associate negative beliefs with femininity and women who claim power. MUTTERZELT will serve as a mirror, a storybook, a sanctuary, and a memorial where individual witnessing, reflection, inspiration, and transformation may take place.
As I am sewing the nightgowns, as I am diving through this web of ancient and recent experiences, emotions, secrets, and sensations, I am uncovering and unleashing what has been there all the time already.
The final act of this work will be the washing of the tent in the Atlantic Ocean after the exhibition.
Water has the capacity to cleanse and transmute. So I will finish this work by releasing the collected stories and energies into this big body of water.
The washing of the tent will be the final transformative act.
PARTICIPATE in the making of MUTTERZELT / Mother Tent
Some of the things that quickly come to the forefront when looking into topics such as female principles and the female collective are 'the great web of life' and 'community'.
What does this mean in the context of this work?
When we think of femininity, its qualities and potential, we won't find isolated aspects, but we will rather be introduced to the wisdom of 'everything being connected' and the principle of oneness: the female cycle, the cycles of nature, the rhythm of life, death, and transformation, and so forth. And the experiences and memories we hold regarding femininity aren't isolated ones either, but most of the time are present in many people's lives, because of our shared human experience as a collective.
And because this piece of work addresses those shared experiences directly, I want the making process to mirror these shared experiences too and give a voice to people from different countries, ages, and backgrounds.
Below you'll find a form where you can leave a personal message, and if needed, upload a file.
I invite you to share with me what thoughts, emotions, memories, experiences become present when you feel into the topic of women's history, equality, female power, ancestresses, female principles, and so on.
I will leave you with some questions as an inspiration to contemplate.
And what you'll share can be as little as one sentence or as long as two pages; it's up to you.
Thank you for being here! Thank you for your interest in these topics and your openness to contribute to this project.
Some questions to contemplate ....
Who were the women who walked this earth before you?
What was your ancestors' life like, and what roles did women play in it?
What do you think about how their lives impacted your own?
What stories did your female ancestors pass on to you?
How connected are you to your inner female self?
What does femininity mean to you, and how are you expressing it in this world?
What is present in the female collective nowadays - what imbalances, what potential?
Which old stories within the female self and the collective are longing for healing and redemption?
What visions do you have for the future - what new stories will the female collective write?
What would a world of true equality really look like to you?
What, from your perception, does an empowered woman embody?
If you could speak to one of your female ancestors, who would come to mind?
What would you want to ask them or tell them?
And what do you think their answers would be?
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS, MEMORIES, OR VISIONS WITH ME - AS A CONTRIBUTION TO THE MAKING OF MUTTERZELT AND THE WEAVING OF YOUR THREAD INTO THE COLLECTIVE WEB OF FEMALE STORIES:
*By submitting a message or file, you agree that your contribution may be used as inspiration and source material for Luisa Lua's artistic work. Excerpts or elements of your submission may be included in artworks or shared publicly as part of her projects. All contributions will remain anonymous unless you explicitly agree otherwise.
I am grateful for your trust and will honor the stories and experiences shared through this process.
luisa lua
Time and place ...
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