We had rituals we didn't know what for
Victoria Hoyt
Working notes
The following from writer Ursula K. Le Guin was a launching point for the series of paintings of which "Lack of Cover" and "We had rituals we didn't know what for" come from: "On the maps drawn by men there is an immense white area, terra incognita, where most women live. That is all yours to explore, to inhabit, to describe.” This is where "Lack of Cover" began -- I needed to turn away from painting what I wanted to know and start painting what I knew, but had never described. In this new world of mine, women loomed large. Their collective femininity is felt in the air -- strength and possibility passed from one being to the next. I thought of all the times women surrounded me -- on the swim team, with college girlfriends, being with my sisters and mom, performing in a feminist collective -- and I painted what that felt like: refuge, power, mystery, beauty and belonging.
I wrote this to go along with the paintings (which also figured out the titles of my work):
"You Are Some Other Thing"
We had rituals we didn’t know what for.
They felt right and true and we felt more right and true--
Us
All hanging inside out
Knowing we were multiple bodies,
our complexity stunning.
We began to take up more room
We outgrew our tongues
We sought a new place, our terra incognita.
Where possibility mattered
Where emptiness wasn’t waiting to be filled, it was just empty,
unfinished and undone completely.
We made a roof out of the space just above our heads.
We could breathe again; we could speak and understand
We could cry and cease breathing and have no words come out at all
We could laugh and cease breathing and have no words come out at all
We wore black suits that made us like one another and we were invincible
Really
We could do anything.
We gave birth to each other and became sisters in the same day
Our mothers were joyful and happy
Our grandmothers were mixing margaritas
When we were tired, they made us rest in the grass
They told stories
We played with our hands,
Made our bodies into other things.
We couldn’t stop talking
Our voices started to take over, little by little, one by one.
They crept over the flat plains and rose to meet the sky
They filled the night
The clouds swelled
The lakes overflowed
The mornings cried out and everything smelled of worms
Beautiful things were born.
We had never seen such beautiful things.
I wrote this to go along with the paintings (which also figured out the titles of my work):
"You Are Some Other Thing"
We had rituals we didn’t know what for.
They felt right and true and we felt more right and true--
Us
All hanging inside out
Knowing we were multiple bodies,
our complexity stunning.
We began to take up more room
We outgrew our tongues
We sought a new place, our terra incognita.
Where possibility mattered
Where emptiness wasn’t waiting to be filled, it was just empty,
unfinished and undone completely.
We made a roof out of the space just above our heads.
We could breathe again; we could speak and understand
We could cry and cease breathing and have no words come out at all
We could laugh and cease breathing and have no words come out at all
We wore black suits that made us like one another and we were invincible
Really
We could do anything.
We gave birth to each other and became sisters in the same day
Our mothers were joyful and happy
Our grandmothers were mixing margaritas
When we were tired, they made us rest in the grass
They told stories
We played with our hands,
Made our bodies into other things.
We couldn’t stop talking
Our voices started to take over, little by little, one by one.
They crept over the flat plains and rose to meet the sky
They filled the night
The clouds swelled
The lakes overflowed
The mornings cried out and everything smelled of worms
Beautiful things were born.
We had never seen such beautiful things.
About the artist
Victoria Hoyt is an artist working in Omaha, Nebraska. She received her BA from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota and her MFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Hoyt has shown extensively in the local and regional area and teaches part-time at Metro Community College in Omaha. Recent fellowship and residencies include the Union of Contemporary Art in Omaha, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska City, and the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont.