Lilith Painting
I first heard the name Lilith in mythology. Don't remember when or where; Jewish mythology I believe. The story I read was that Adams first mate, was not Eve, but Lilith, this from the two seemingly different creations spoken of in the book of Genesis. In this story Adam and Lilith were created from the dust of the earth, in other words, the same way, equal. Whereas Eve, in the second creation, was created from Adams rib, essentially, lesser than, Adam ... you probably know the story better than I. But there was something in this story that touched me, made me question some things, can't say why, maybe in a previous life I too had a mate named Lilith. Don't know, but what I can say is that this name is meaningful to me. I even wrote a humorous take on the Adam, Eve and Lilith story of my own which can be found on this site.
In todays society the name ,Lilith, has come to signify womes rights and I am a big supporter of women's rights. I guess this comes from the fact that my own mother was married to an alcoholic and was not treated well by my father. This, plus, when I look at my own life and the way that I treated my own wife, well, I have a lot to atone for. NO! I never put hands on my wife or any other women. I would never hit a women. Hell I won't even curse in front of a women, just won't. But I, while married, started seeing other women. This I am ashamed of. If I stopped loving her, I should have divorced her, not embarrassed her. She was a good women and deserved better than what she got. With this said I carry this burden of remorse and as a result hate it when women are not treated with dignity.
When I was in the Penitentiary at USP Florence, Colorado back in the day (2000-2010) I was fortunate enough to have had a single-cell for eight years (no cellie). I would sit in my cell and write and paint, I was very happy being alone. But, even paradise has its serpent and mine was this biker dude who would sit within talking distance of my cell. Every morning he would sit near my cell with his little crew of peons, drink coffee and tell war stories - of course his war stories were always about selling dope. One morning I was sitting in my cell painting, when he stated telling this story about how he had strung this one "ol gal out" and had forced her to have sex with his dog for more dope ... Yeah. I don't know what happened to me that morning but I lost it ... I can't go into detail here, for obvious reasons, but I walked up behind him and hit him in the back of the head with ... well, something. We'll leave it at that. Afterward, the Lieutenant asked me why I did it, and I proudly told him. He looked at me, nodded his head, and an hour later I was let out of the Hole and no Incident Report was ever written; big boy never came out of the Hole, he was transferred; don't know or care where. But his story had a profound affect on me. I could not get it out of my mind ... I wondered how many women and even young girls have been humiliated in this way. It makes me sick to even think about it. Yeah, his words stuck with me and if you were to read all of my writings you will read, in several places, some part of this horror, this crime against women built into some of my evil characters. Being the father of a daughter and the grandfather to four granddaughters, well ... I never got past this. And if I see one of these weirdos pulling his cock out on one of these female officers, I will attack. Don't fuck with women around me.
Shortly after this event I decided to paint a series of ... disadvantaged women. I decided to paint these women as handicapped and to name them all, Lilith. In all of my Lilith paintings she is portrayed as beautiful and in all ways glorious, except that she is missing a hand ... this signifies how, in my opinion, women are born at a disadvantage. This is reflected throughout the history of humanity. And this disadvantage is prevalent in the histories of all races and nationalities, in all cultures past and present.
I have, to this point painted 8 Lilith paintings, of those eight, only 3 have survived, they are all on this site. The one that is in this article is my favorite. In this picture Lilith is looking heavenward, her expression is between Hope and Defiance, she also has her fist balled-up showing a willingness to stand her ground. It is owned by Conny B. who presently lives in Switzerland.
I hope you enjoy them. Peace be with you, mark.
# woman's rights, lilithinstitute.com
#Lilith in art
#Adam, Eve and Lilith a comedy
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