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The egg in art: when women artists reclaim this powerful symbol

Posted by Camille Cazin on

The egg has been a strong symbol in the art world since the dawn of time. Thus, it symbolizes creation, life, rebirth and protection

First a bit of history ...

In many mythologies, the egg is associated with the birth of the world. In ancient Egypt, for example, the Milky Way emerged from the waters in the form of a hill of rubbish, and the god Reborn from an egg laid on this mound by a celestial bird.

In Chinese mythology, the universe at its beginnings was an egg. Pangu (the first god), born from this egg, breaks it into two parts which become respectively the sky and  the earth.

The egg also represents the renewal of the cycle of nature. Futhermore, certain traditions mark this symbolism. This is the case with the Easter egg and the colored eggs that can be found around the world.

The egg: an inexhaustible source of inspiration for male artists

From Loenard de Vinci to Joan Miro passing by Jeff Koons, the artists who have marked our history have found in this perfect form an inexhaustible source of inspiration that they have declined to infinity ...

One of them will have even made a real fixation, it is Salvador Dali, The egg is for this Spanish master of surrealism, an important symbol. For Dali, the egg is precisely The Christian symbol of the resurrection of Christ and the emblem of purity and perfection.

The appearance and minerality of the egg evokes a symbolism dear to Dalí and his colleagues, that of previous life, intrauterine and re-birth.

If the presence of the woman can be read as a filagram in the works, the woman only exists there as a source, even as a container of life, she is not an actress.

When women artists reclaim the egg symbol….

Deborah Czeresko

If you don't know, take a look at the Blown Away series which brings together glass artists to compete in the creation of innovative works of art. This is where we discovered the talented Deborah Czeresko.

Invited to do an installation, she embarks on a feminist version of breakfast, including a fertile fried egg and a chandelier made up of sausages.

While the art world is struggling to achieve gender parity, the glass industry is particularly unequal, remaining a "boys club". With this installation Deborah affirms, not without humor and daring, the fertility of women creativity in a male area and her desire to become the first maestra in the world of glassblowing.

Emma Sutherland

Emma Sutherland develops her work by feeding on the universal law that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Working in the paradigm of life, death and rebirth, She incorporates dualities found in science, philosophy and spirituality.

In her series "Exploration Divine Feminine", she explores this notion from Patanjali's Yoga Sutra written over 2000 years ago. Sometimes fierce, sometimes tender, the Divine Feminine would reside in each woman and each man and would be the creative principle of the universe.

Exploring this theme Emma incorporates egg shapes in almost all of her works, creating her own materials from the destruction or conversion of recycled materials.

Joann Coté

With her exhibition "Sale temps pour les s * lauds", Joann Côté explores the harsh realities that afflict society. In this series of engaging works, she addresses the themes of intolerance and injustice.

She draws a portrait that is both critical and poetic of these violent and painful issues. The artist initiates a personal and intuitive reflection with a view to raising the debate on these tense topical subjects.

Individuals, represented by solid, fragile, broken, patched birds speak to us of difference as a force and of acceptance. In the midst of its individuals without nests, eggs represents individuals in the making, symbol of the future generation which questions itself on their degree of freedom.

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