Carol Nathan Levin |
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Nathan Levin left Wits Fine Art department to become a fashion designer. She found a career in costume building and created " fashion sculptures". After working and exhibiting in New York and Los Angeles for 12 years she has returned to South Africa to pursue a full time career in fine art. Since then she has taken part in many group shows as well as one woman shows She explores and exposes subject matter that often makes people uncomfortable Challenging taboos. “There is always something lurking in the shadow-self Offence and Seduction
In 2006 Nathan discovered she was gene positive with the ‘BRCA I gene’ which gives her a high propensity for Breast and Ovarian cancer. In order to reduce her risk, she elected to remove her ovaries. This resulted in instant and extreme menopause. She began to reflect on menstruation and calculated that she had had 391 periods. She often pondered the nature of secrecy associated with bleeding which led her to ask, "Why is it that we watch violence for entertainment but menstrual blood is taboo?" Within the female body there resides an architectural space dedicated to non-being... the source of all things. In Kabbalistic terms "something" comes out of "nothing"... the void (1 comes out of 0). We, as women, contain the "nothing"... the voidal mothers. In Ancient Egypt, in the time of the worship of Isis, there was an innate respect for women. Society connected the cycles of the moon (28 days) with that of the menstrual cycle. The importance of giving birth within this cycle was recognized. This created a matriarchal society where women were revered. This changed when Moses became angry at the worship of the golden calf (Isis), which he destroyed. He then came down Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments. This symbolized the beginning of the patriarchal era. In Egyptian mythology this was the era of Osiris. Now we are in the phase of Horus, the Aquarian age. This is when the two energies, male and female, come into balance. In her own words Carol explains, "My intention is not to shock the viewer, but rather to modify our perception." |