Love Under the Patriarchy

Love Under the Patriarchy started as a podcast put out by Renee Sharpe. Renee began by recording informal conversations with friends and acquaintances on the subject of love under the patriarchy that were later released online as a podcast. The idea was to learn from one another through the sharing of experiences as well as how love can be a force to resist and possibly defeat capitalist patriarchy. The podcast draws on personal experience as knowledge and relies on conversation as a way to explore our relationships under patriarchy in an effort to begin imagining a different world, one without capitalist patriarchy, and all the oppressions that come with it.

 

Christeen joined and is now working on a zine and series of prints as part of the project. The zine is a compilation of writing and visual art that is slated to come out in the summer of 2020. The prints start as drawn portraits, that are subsequently transferred to wood where they are carved and relief printed from pressed wood. The interaction of the wood as a highly textured surface, interrupts the act of carving and transforms the image. The idea behind this is simple; that life and love under patriarchy is a struggle in which we find ourselves pulled apart by competing beliefs, the ones we strive to create and the ones implanted in us by the dominant culture. We, like the portraits, fade in and out of recognition as we try these on, splintering in moments where we fail and coming through in moments of clarity with the help of friends and community.