Mechele Shoneman “Under The MANtle”, plastic, metal chain, oil paint and cotton, 22” wide x 22” high x 2” depth – $2,500.00

   Leviticus 15:19-23    When a woman has a discharge, if her discharge in her body is blood, she shall continue in her menstrual impurity for seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening.
   Organized religion is the greatest enemy of women’s rights, subjugating at every turn. In the Western world, bible verse after verse demeans and dehumanizes the position of women, identifying us as unclean, powerless, created mainly to serve. Biblical women are possessions, sold by their fathers into bondage or worse. Common biblical labels include ‘harlot’ and ‘whore.’ Contempt for women’s bodies and our reproductive capacity is commonplace in the bible. These ‘lessons’ are dribbled into our consciousness from the time we are old enough to say grace, through to traditional marriage when we are asked to ‘serve in all duty and service, in all faith.’ This poison is so deeply buried in our traditions and rituals, in the commonplace, it takes a feat of majestic proportions to recognize, tease it out, and disempower it.