3: Installation Art Encounters: Extending the Invitation

To: מִרְיָם (Miriam)
Because: I would like to invite Miriam, the Jewish “prophetess,” to Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party table because I feel like there is so much more to her story than what has survived in the bible and Qur’an.

Miriam was first mentioned in the Old Testament as the sister of Moses. It was her cleverness that kept him alive and suggested that the Pharaoh’s wife should use her mother as his nursemaid. More importantly, I believe, it was Miriam along with her brothers that led an enslaved people out of oppression. Her part of this narrative is often overlooked. For example, only a couplet of her (probably much longer) victory song is recorded.

“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
Horse and rider he has thrown into the sea” (Exodus 15:20-21).

Jewish women sang victory songs to men returning from triumph, but reading her story made me recognize their importance in creating and maintaining oral histories. The meanings and words of these lyrical poems were lost, removed or mutated by generations of biblical transcribers.

The challenge Miriam and her brother Aaron posed to Moses, “They said, 'Was it only to Moses that God spoke? Did he not speak to us as well?” (Numbers 12:2) shows her attempt to ascertain female equality. However, tradition states that she (but not Aaron) was punished for insubordination, becoming ill and exiled from her tribe’s camp. Perhaps the most telling part of this account is the response of her followers. Miriam’s popularity and importance are illustrated by their refusal to continue walking toward the Promise Land without her leadership, which forced her brothers to plead for her recovery.

While some or all of this narrative may be fictionalized, Miriam’s influence on history is well established. She is one of a select few heroines mentioned in the bible, and her importance to the people she led continues to be recognized. It makes me question that if these impressive acts survived the interpretations of scribes for millennia, how many other things did she accomplish that are now forgotten? After all, it would be in the transcriber’s best interest to manipulate historical narratives into cautionary parables that maintained priestly authority.

I would like to visually represent Miriam’s acts through a sculptural fountain place setting, as water plays an integral part in her mythology. A small waterfall-style tap could be installed above a receiving area, constantly issuing clean and sweet water ready to be used to wash or drink. Like strong women, water is a valuable resource. Unused water will be collected and filtered before returning to the fountainhead to flow once more like the retelling of an epic story.

Invitation and Place Setting

Closeup of Invitation

Nominated by: March

Images used:
http://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/13716-lady-of-the-water-illustration-vector
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-illustration-1630327-formal-place-setting-on-white.php
http://www.amazon.com/Kraus-Golden-Rectangular-Waterfall-Faucet/dp/B00467HGBY

More research on Miriam:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam
http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/miriam-bible
http://www.womeninthebible.net/1.7.Miriam.htm


Assignment:
Explore all 14 encounters in The Dinner Party Curriculum and read through the entire Encounter 2: Extending the Invitation that explains how this activity might be used in the classroom, and do "Extending the Invitation worksheet" and "Extending the Invitation Guest Placard." Share these on your blog by 2/2. This involves selecting a women who you would like to "invite" to be among the women honored in The Dinner Party. Judy Chicago and the many people who assisted her used a set criteria to determine what women would be included in The Dinner Party. Research prior to artmaking is a content-based approach to artmaking.