Monica Sjoo
 Monica Sjöö died on 8 August 2005, after a long illness and is sadly
missed by many people. There were tributes to her in Goddess
Alive! magazine, and there is also a tribute from
Starhawk online here.
There is also an obituary
in the Guardian of Friday 23rd September, 2005.
Monica Sjöö is a radical anarcho/eco-feminist and Goddess artist, writer
and thinker involved in Earth spirituality. Born in Sweden in 1938 she has
lived mostly in Bristol since the late 1950's and has been active in the
Women's Liberation Movement since the 60's. Her paintings are inspired by
the veneration in ancient cultures of the Great Mother, the Earth. They
have been exhibited throughout Europe and in America. Monica reflects her
politics and spirituality not just in her art but also in her writing. She's
author of the Great Cosmic Mother, Rediscovering the Religion of the
Earth (with Barbara Mor) and Return of the Dark/Light Mother, or
New Age Armageddon? plus many of articles in newspapers and magazines.
She is also an active speaker who has toured many countries expressing her
anarcho-feminist philosophies in universities, conferences, festivals and
camps.
This conscience is also reflected in Monica's activism, taking part in
many campaigns and causes.
As an artist her most famous work is "God giving birth" (1968)
which has become a feminist icon because of its meaning and also because
of the repression against it as it questions by itself all that this system
is based on: patriarchism and racism. This painting depicts God as a Black
woman and the human creation as a real birth (A revolutionary painting in
back in those days, for she was threatened several times with legal action
on the ground of "blasphemy").
Many of her paintings have also been used in books, covers and cards.
- From the Catalogue of One
of Her Art Exhibitions
Web Sites
www.monicasjoo.com
www.monicasjoo.org
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