Munta (meaning sacred in Paakantyi) is a series of artworks that depict imagery of womanhood from the view of an Aboriginal woman and artist, Sian Harris. The work emulates and challenges the ethnographically collected imagery of womanhood and femininity. Munta gives meaning to images that would have been misinterpreted as obscene or distasteful.
There has always existed depictions of women from the view of the white male gaze. Munta seeks to dismantle:
The colonial/settler view of Aboriginal, Indigenous, and Native women: Explore how the ‘primitive nature’ of the subjects made it acceptable to show full nudity, exposed breasts, and scenes of rape and abuse (which were often fantasy scenarios drawn by settlers). It was improper and crude to depict white women in such ways, but settler’s views of Aboriginal women made these images acceptable. Their unencumbered sexual access to Aboriginal women gave rise to this type of ethno-pornography.
The production of these images went a long way in solidifying stereotypes of Aboriginal women. The white male settlers who were ‘observing’ cultural practices had no real understanding of what was happening with regard to motherhood, courtship, childbearing etc. because it was Women’s Business. This lack of understanding meant they went ahead and fabricated the parts they didn’t know. These fabricated ideals of Aboriginal women, their sexuality, and relationships to others still informs negative stereotypes today.
The misinterpretation of sacred objects depicting women’s bodies: Viewing sacred objects that represent fertility; creation; life cycles; and spirituality as folk art. These objects are given surface accommodation, as part of the process of colonisation. They are seen as tokenistic remnants of a culture that is being replaced. They are viewed as a reminder of the ignorance of the Natives. When applied to artefacts that hold spiritual importance to women in particular, they are relegated even less importance than the objects aligned with men’s spiritual practices.
The Objects of Ethnography: Examining ‘objects of ethnography’ depicting women, especially Indigenous women. Munta explores how depictions such as paintings, photographs, etchings etc., and actual parts of women’s bodies are studied and collected, but their voices are rarely heard. For example, the nameless women seen posed in traditional garb, feigning engagement in some traditional activity. Their worth is measured by how pleasing they are the white male gaze. Their importance within an ethnographic and anthropological space is depending on the famous white man’s collection to which they ‘belong’. Academics build their careers on ‘studying’ them. Yet these women, once recorded, collected, and quantified, have no agency and no history. They serve as a snapshot of a time in the past where the narratives that men built around them inform the damaging views that persist today.
The Exoticness and ‘Otherness’ of Native Women: The objectification of Aboriginal, Indigenous, and Native women, as with the art, and lifestyle of Paul Gauguin, in the South Pacific. The phenomenon of Indigenous women being seen as both hypersexual yet undesirable at the same time is also explored. This juxtaposition is a result of colonial views of Indigenous women.
These themes will be deconstructed through the series of artworks created by the artist. She aims to challenge the inherent value judgements that are placed on women by society, and to challenge the internalised misogyny that has been so ingrained for generations. Through these works, she seeks to reclaim the art of women’s spirituality through representations of the female form; through Women’s Business. It is a celebration of womanhood and all that it entails.