Spinsters (map of virtue)

Spiensters means women’s visit in Staphorst dialect. Initially, it means spinsters: young women who came together to spin in the evening, to socialize. Single women, married women didn’t have time. Over the years it has come to mean visiting women.

‘Spinsters (map of virtue)’ is my contribution for Melk & Bloed on invitation by Suze May Sho. A project in printed matter.

The newspaper Melk & Bloed by Suze May Sho is a heritage & modern art project for the Overijssel theater festival Kunsten op Straat. Melk & Bloed (Milk & Blood) is a white/red folk art pattern on fabric. Suze May Sho asked twelve artists and writers to make a contribution for the Melk & Bloed newspaper, which was distributed in style to the visitors of the festival.

THE START:

First I bought an old traditional folk art hat that was common in the region of the festival.

Being intrigued by the photo of Hendrikje Hooikammer who exposed her hat in a beautiful way: she bows to show the top of her hat. At the same time, the photo makes me nervous because the bow shows (her) virtue. Beautiful and suffocating at the same time. It was exited because I did an earlier project named the Commitments in which I photographed heads from above.

To repeat the pose I took the photo of Hendrikje Hooikammer again in traditional clothing worn by a Staphorst woman. The idea was to feel the real friction between the beauty of the headgear and the bending attitude of the woman that radiates virtue.

I started to unfold the virtue by separating the parts of the traditional hat. The headgear under which a woman had to wrap herself, to hide her hair, her thoughts enclosed in fabric.

Taking off this headgear ‘going into civilian’ is a tough mental decision because it also means a break with the women’s community. The women kept the social order under strict control through their visits. In the floor plan of this hat, I’ve replaced the traditional polka dot pattern by heads with traditional headgear photographed from above. This has created a closed women’s system of whispering and monitoring. An invisible force becomes visible. Women are also perpetrators of the oppressive social order and maintain the system instead of breaking the pattern.

The design on paper can be cut out and taped together to make a paper cap. In stead of the traditional hat, one can make a totally different piece of headgear.