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Showing posts from March, 2026
 International Women's Day Ilse Bing, Salut De Schiaparelli, 1934.  "Here’s to strong women: may we know them, may we be them, may we raise them". My cynicism has the better of me today.  I was that 'strong' woman who celebrated women on panels, got to applaud their achievements in a room mostly filled with women and raised a glass to future endeavours, always and every time.  In fact, I may have been on a panel once or twice myself, talking about films or art, and how great my achievements had taken me. If a man could do it and I could too, how impressive that had seemed.  Surely deserving of a stage and mic. I have chosen Ilse Bing's, Salut De Schiaparelli's image from 1934.  Bing photographed this image in 1934, on the edge of a Europe sliding toward violence and authoritarianism.  It was created for a perfume advertisement, but, when I look at it, I can't help but see something else. This woman appears dead, lilies, strewn across her, perhaps ...