New Work
The Ecstatic Cow
We generally live by sets of rules which define our societies - those to live and be governed by. These ‘rules’ are not true for every human or society and are open to interpretation, change and to be adapted - regardless if we agree or not with the rules in different societies, these form our known civilisations. My currently body of work is concerned with the welfare of a group of women - numbers vary but it is in the region of around 200,000.00 women and children who are living in abhorrent conditions currently in legal brothels in Bangladesh. In one of only a handful of countries where prostitution is legal and brothels are regulated, intercourse with a girl ( under 18) is punishable with 10 years imprisonment, however it is common place for young women and girls to take Oradexon, a cattle steroid fed routinely to cattle to fatten them - taken orally or intravenously, a panacea to promote curvaceous form, this drug enhances their figure, making them appear older than their years ….. fattened like oxen, for sex…….
The title - The Ecstatic Cow, and other Embroidered Stories is taken from works produced by Stella Snead during her time in India. A U.K. Surrealist painter, her title was the catalyst for this body of disturbing works which highlight the horrors, rapes, violent physical and verbal abuse faced daily by young women and children who are often bonded or sold, trafficked or born into prostitution in Bangladesh’s legal brothel's.
Kandapara - The Crying Quarter translates directly as the name of one of these districts, and was established as a brothel in 1860 and formally legalised in 2000, located on the banks of the river Jamuna, is home to thousands of women and children and is one of few legalised brothel's worldwide. I resided in Dhaka for some years in the 1980s where I was fortunate to work alongside many women in both the capital and rural communities across the country. Many of these women had suffered great loss and abuse during the partition in 1976. Displacement, religious segregation, torture, rape, murder were common place and thousands were subjected to a life of destitution, bereft of male family members and ostracised by their neighbours, for many of these women, sex work was then and still is, often the only option, Many sold and bonded or trafficked by their own relatives.
The textile industry was in its infancy at that time, women relied on field work, Khanta stitching and sex work as legitimate forms of employment. Very little has changed for thousands of young women. This new body of work, highlights the prolific use of Oradexon, underpinned by recent evidence and findings conducted by WHO and UNICEF, and a paper produced in May 2020 on behalf of CARE International by Wasfia Nazreen, examines the current lives and serious health risks, from AIDS, Hepatitis, sexually transmitted diseases, cholera, trafficking to and from Bangladesh, and continued violence, not least the addiction to heroin, and Oradexon, a drug which is used predominantly in the farming industry to fatten cattle, which, taken both orally and intravenously enhancing their body shape, and is a particularly attractive choice of drug (or forced) to very young girls who become more curvaceous and therefore more appealing to men. It is my intention to raise concerns, and to question morality, abuse of children, women and workers rights. My work, comprising of drawings, clay and wax workings, textiles, often referencing chimera like figures, an amalgamation of cow, human and bird, resembling goddesses found in many religions, depicting a cow, a woman, a bird…… seen as a bringer of wealth, fertility and joy…… The women and girls give themselves exotic names, citing birds, butterflies or flowers, innocent, beautiful creatures, fattened on Oxadexon, along with other potent cocktails known colloquially as Zhaka Naka, combine cough mixtures, fruit juices, heroin and sleeping pills - A set of rules for some are not necessarily the same set of rules for others. Sexual desire, it seems, legitimises sexual abuse. The irony is not lost…..
