Women in the arts

     Scorsese, Tarantino, Hitchcock... Do you know what these people have in common ? Apart from being successful films directors, they are all men. Whether or not we enjoy cinema, we know those names because they are everywhere : we learn about them in school, their movies are advertised everywhere, we see them on TV... But when we are talking about women, it's a different story. If you have a hard time to grasp the difference, I find there's a good way to put your knowledge into perspective and it is as simple as the question that follows :  - Do you know any women directors or producers ?       If you do, congrats ! If you don't, it's because women directors are not as well known or as well recognised for their talents as men. Hence, this article's goal is to shine a light on two great female directors, Ava DuVernay and Kathryn Bigelow, and one actress and producer, Reese Witherspoon.  Ava DuVernay  Wikicommons     First, we...

We can all immediately recognize a witch, right? The nasty, ugly stepmother in Snow White , the green face of the East Witch in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz . They are evil, feared, hideous and have a special place in our pop culture. However, the first witches were above all real-life women, independent and free, but persecuted women. Let's start with some etymology. The word wit ch comes from the old english wicca and wicce , which means warlock and sorceress . However, if we focus now on sorceress we can relate the word to its latin roots: sors , which means fate , or sort in french. Therefore we can presume that witches are people with the capacity to modify somebody's fate. During the Middle Ages and with christianization, it became more and more difficult to have a polytheistic religion. Pagan rites were note a thing to be done, even if the main religion went back over them. The herbel knowledge and the connection with the Moon were despised and relegated to superstiti...

 For our sixth podcast, let's listen to Marine about : The Harry Potter saga, which has lulled the youth of an entire generation. Many of us are waiting to receive our letter of admission to Hogwarts, dreaming of playing a Quidditch match on a flying broom or wishing to find our keys with a simple "Accio" ! We invite you to take a look at one of the main characters of this magical universe, Hermione Granger. For the Fifteen Equality Fortnight, it's time to give our favourite witch her rightful place. Because indeed, Hermione is the girl who carried Harry Potter on her back !  Credits Jingle editing: Jeanne Chervel and Nicolas Majeune Music: Daisy Dolls Logo and visual: Anaïs Guimontheil Editing: Charline Gautier

In this fifth podcast, let's listen to Johanna telling the story of Lola Alvares Bravo, a brilliant mexican photographer. From the poverty of Mexican society to Frida Khalo's portaits, she will look back at this great woman's photographs who shed a light on Mexico.  Credits Jingle editing: Jeanne Chervel and Nicolas Majeune Music: Daisy Dolls Logo and visual: Anaïs Guimontheil Editing: Elodie Baillet

  For this fourth podcast, let's join Jeanne and Anaïs to discuss about two artists with strong messages! Sonita Alizadeh, afghan rapper and activist and Judy Chicago, american artist, are both fighting for women's rights and representation, but in different ways. We don’t tell you any more, and we let you discover their work.  Credits Jingle editing: Jeanne Chervel and Nicolas Majeune Music: Daisy Dolls Logo and visual: Anaïs Guimontheil Editing: Jeanne Chervel and Anaïs Guimontheil

    In this third podcast, listen to Charline and Lisa discuss the place witches have in our pop culture. From Bewitched to the Chilling adventures of Sabrina , they will talk about feminism and witchcraft, to try and understand why we love, fear, hate the witch!  Credits Jingle editing: Jeanne Chervel and Nicolas Majeune Music: Daisy Dolls Logo and visual: Anaïs Guimontheil Editing: Charline Gautier

Many talented women photographers have left their mark on history. For example, we can mention the renowned Dorothea Lange, who took Migrant mother , an iconic image of the Great Depression in the USA. We can also think about Elizabeth Lee Miller, who followed American soldiers since the D-Day landings, so between 1944 and 1946, and whose photographs made the world discover the existence of the concentration camps made by the Nazi regime. We can mention Lola Alvarez Bravo too, who represented the Mexican people in an authentic way (she is the subject of one of our podcasts that you will be able to listen on our blog soon…)  But today I would like to focus on contemporary women photographers who are committed to the feminist cause, that you can discover (or rediscover) on social networks, such as Instagram, an important platform for artists and artistic knowledge. Unfortunately, there are so many and one article would not be enough to present them all. However, here are five of them...

The photographer Lisa Miquet agreed to share with us about her art. Here is the full interview. Solène :  How did you start in photography? Lisa Miquet : When I was a teenager I was very bored and it was the beginning of digital cameras, in my family we had a small camera not very powerful but I had fun with it, then there was the arrival of phones that took pictures, during all the middle school, all the high school I was taking pics of everyone, I was a little bit "the girl who took pictures", I went to the photo club of the high school. I always made pictures. I've been taking pictures since I was 13 and now, I'm 30, so most of my life, I’ve been taking pictures. Solène: How do you describe your art? Lisa Miquet : As an artist, It's complicated to describe your own creations but what I try to do most of the time is to put humor in my images, to have a quirky side. And also, I try to make committed works. Solène: Do you call yourself a feminist? Lisa Miquet ...

              Did you know that, until 2013, French girls and women were technically legally obliged to ask the police prefecture a “cross dressing permission” to wear trousers? This was according to a decree promulgated in 1800 by the préfet of Paris which considered women wearing trousers as cross-dressed and guilty of breach of the established patriarchal order. Trousers gave women more comfort allowing them more freedom of movement than with a dress and a corset, causing fear among some men that women were taking their place. At this time, only a few women broke the rule such as Amelia Bloomer who became a symbol of women’s emancipation or the artist Mathilde de Morny also called marquis de Belbeuf now considered as one of the first transgender public figures. It ‘s only during the 60s that famous women begin to wear trousers without any work or medical reason but because they just wanted to. Celebrities like Brigitte Ba...

  In this second podcast, we listen to Malaurie! Let’s talk about the history of the most iconic designer of the sixties: Mary Quant. She was at the vanguard of the “Swinging London” scene. She is the mini skirt designer and at this time, it was an important symbol of women emancipation. Quant’s work marked the society in how fashion can reflect social changes and how fashion can provoke them.  Credits Text: Malaurie Patural Jingle editing: Jeanne Chervel and Nicolas Majeune Music: Daisy Dolls Logo and visual: Anaïs Guimontheil Editing: Charline Gautier

     Charlène Gros-Piron is, at first, a huge reader. In her library you can find: The Heritage cycle by Christopher Paolini, Tara Duncan by Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian, the Warriors series (La Guerre des Clans) by Erin Hunter and so much more...      But more than that she’s a writer. With ten published books since 2012, eleventh one near to come, from romance with Si tu me retiens (If you hold me back) published by So Romance to fantasy with Le masque du silence (The mask of silence) published by Valentina and Les Originels series (The Originals) published by Anyway Editions , Charlène Gros-Piron possess a large experience in fictional writing and character creation. That’s the reason we wanted her point of view as an author about female characters in fantasy literature. You can find more information about her publications on her website and Facebook page and her reading suggestions on her Youtube channel L’Eden des rêves but for now let’s discove...

We all know Mulan, princess and Disney heroine nurtured many childhood, including mine. But do you know Mulan's true story? And where does this legend come from? Today I'm going to tell you Mulan's true story, the one that inspired Disney to make his cartoon. Because Mulan's story is one of the first stories about a woman who disguises herself as a man. The story that inspired Disney’s cartoon was actually built around a ballad that dates back to the 5th Century. In this ballad we witness how Mulan dresses up in male clothing and decieves her classmates for many years before revealing herself to them as a woman, in dress and make-up (well, rather as the feminine stereotype of the time). Mulan's "true story" began during the Wei Dynasty, which stretched from 386 to 584 in the North China kingdom. Mulan is said to have been a young general's daughter who disguised herself as a man to take the place of her father, who was too old, or her brother, ...

  There is so much to say about Hermione ! Our upcoming podcast focusses on the young witch as a feminist figure in the Harry Potter series. As well as her intelligence and her pugnacity as an opponent to sexism, we can also talk about Hermione as a friend. A loyal, faithful friend.  Indeed, one of the Hermione’s traits is that she is a loyal friend. Among all the characters in the saga, Hermione is indeed the one who cares the most about the others. She is an honest, faithful and devoted friend: her relationship with Harry shows that not only can women and men be friends without any ambiguity, but that they can even be best friends! She remains loyal to Harry and Ron during the saga as they take turns turning their backs on her. In book 3, the prisoner of Azkaban, when Harry mysteriously receives a flash of fire (the latest fashionable flying broom) while he is supposedly being chased by Sirius Black who wants to kill him, Hermione immediately suspects an attempted murder....

  For this first podcast of Women in the Arts, Élodie Baillet and Laura Montestruc, both students of Clermont Auvergne University, will engage the discussion with the representation of women in movies. You will learn how the image of women has evolved over the decades and you will understand that the struggle is not over. Credits Jingle editing: Jeanne Chervel and Nicolas Majeune Music: Daisy Dolls Logo and visual: Anaïs Guimontheil Editing: Élodie Baillet