pastels
in west africa the practice of female circumsion is against the law. unfortunately the practice still continues today, even on girls as young as 6 years old. this picture depicts the horror of this practice. the little girl looks at the woman with trepidation. the woman has a razor coming out of her mouth.
RECEIVED THIS EMAIL:
Thu, Dec 26, 2013
Dear Ms. Beinhacker,
I am a graduate student research assistant working with Carol Pavlish, PhD, RN, FAAN who is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Volunteering for the American Refugee Committee, we developed a learning program on Health and Human Rights which will be uploaded onto LINGOS website (ngolearning.org). LINGOs is a consortium of over 75 international humanitarian relief, development, conservation and health organizations. LINGOs provides the latest learning technologies and courses so these non profits can increase the skill levels of their employees, and therefore increase the impact of their programs.
We are inquiring whether you hold the copyright for your artwork that currently appears on Flicker. If so, we seek your permission to use your beautiful artwork into one of the powerpoint slides for the Health and Human Rights course. This course will be available to staff around the world who work for organizations that are members of LINGOs. There is no fee required for staff to take the course – nor do faculty or UCLA profit in any way from this course.
Thank you very much for considering this request!
Jennie Chen
Graduate Student
UCLA School of Nursing
MY REPLY:
hello jennie
i would be pleased to have you use this pastel in your health and human rights class yes i do hold the copy right for this pastel but i give you permission to use it.
this is an important women's issue and i am pleased to share this with the people who will be taking the class.
please also feel free to use what i wrote under the pastel.
btw: i made this pastel after my trip to west africa and many discussions i had with both women and men about this practice.
i request that you provide my name and link to my website on the slide.
i would be interested in hearing any reaction to this pastel and what it depicts. when will the class take place?
best regards,
jennifer
COMMENTS MADE:
They dropped the expression female circumcision here a while back as being an inappropriately tame comparison, replacing it with the more descriptive female genital mutilation. I know this happens secretly in the U.K. still. If it was done to men there would've been rapid and effective action years ago.
I think we should leave it to African's themselves to abolish this abhorrent practice. Progress has been made but it will take more time. Education is the key. Unfortunately there is still a huge amount of illeteracy in Africa. The abominable practice of "sati" has virtually disappeared in India, although the caste system still has a de facto existence in some places although it has no official standing.
This is not a "Lucy in the sky with diamonds"! Great Jennifer. Ideas must grow up.
.there is no pleasure in the continuation of this horrendous practice!
Immagine molto bella e suggestiva, ottima risoluzione. Tantissimi Auguri di un Felice anno 2010 e Giiose Festività
agh. something i've been angry about for so many years. As a woman, I think it is barbaric. I think women have to take a stand against the brutality of men - even (and especially) when they use religion as an excuse to butcher women. sorry to be so GRRR.
I think it has everything to do with a male-god figure. People worshipped the female for so many thousands of years, and here we are now in this god forsaken mess of men telling everyone what they can do, killing each other in wars and crapping all over women. I've had enough!
i like your painting
yep, it hit me like a bolt of lightening.
so, good on you jennifer >:)
Arresting, hope it draws attention to this archaic practice.
Fantastic image, Jennifer!
It's magnifique!
Amazing work as always Jennifer ! It really is a horror young girls had to go through!!
You can see the horror in the child's face...
Your work is just marvelous.
Excellent work Jennifer
Always Intelligent Painting and Wonderful !!!
powerful!
Impresionante toma, saludos
Very special, your Africa series!
Great work !!
This is a fantastic painting
A very serious subject, vividly tackled, Jennifer...Brava...
