ART, RESEARCH, THEORY
ART, RESEARCH, THEORY: In November 2016 the column space was passed on to Shira Richter, a mother, artist, activist, film maker and educator from Israel, to curate three editions of the m/other voices monthly columns on the topic of the 'maternal' and the 'politics of everyday life' from her particular, situated, feminist maternal perspective of mothering twin sons in Israel. In the first edition of 'Messages from Israel', Richter brought us her interview with Dr. Andrea O'Reilly, entitled 'Motherhood; a Liability or Crime?' In the second edition, on Valentines Day 2017, she brought us her continued and ongoing investigation into patriarchal structures and mother work, in her article Mary - The Mother Whose Son Preached Feminine Values and the accompanying video interview with Dr. James F. Gilligan. In the third edition, Shira Richter introduces us to the world and work of Rela Mazali, a feminist artist, activist, scholar, mother, daughter and grandmother living in Israel.
m/other voices thank's Shira Richter for her tireless work of re-imagining the world from a feminist maternal perspective and Rela Mazali for her graceful and generous contribution to the ongoing conversation unfolding on the virtual pages of the m/other voices foundation.
Rela Mazali, image courtesy of Shira Richter.
Rela Mazali is a bi-lingual author who writes in both English ad Hebrew, an independent scholar and a feminist anti-militarist activist from Israel; Active against Israel's occupation since 1980, one of the founders of the New Profile movement to demilitarise society and state in Israel (in 1998) and of the Coalition of Women for peace (in 2000), a member of the Jury of Conscience of the World Tribunal on Iraq in 2005, Co-founder (in 2010) and (still) Coordinator of the feminist disarmament project, Gun Free Kitchen Tables (GFKT), she is also the lead author of GFKT's new report: 'Loose guns: Israeli controlled small arms in the civil sphere' (January 2017). Rela's latest literary work is: 'Home Archaeology' (In Hebrew, 2011). Previous books: 'Maps of Women's Goings and Stayings (in English, 2001), WhaNever (in Hebrew, 1987). Among her recently published essay tales and papers: 'Hospital Archive' in Bad Mothers: Regulations, representations and Resistance, Michelle Hughes Miller, Tamar Hager and Rebecca Jaremko Bromwich (eds.), Demeter Press, (2017); 'Speaking of Guns: Launching gun control discourse and disarming security guards in a militarised society', International Feminist Journal of Politics, 2016 Vol. 18, No. 2, 292-304; 'Complicit Dissent, Dissenting Complicity: A story and its Context' in Apartheid in Palestine: Hard Laws and Harder Experiences, Ghana Ageel ed., University of Alberta Press, 2016, pp. 128-148.
See here to read Motherlands by Rela Mazali.
For queries on how to submit work for the monthly columns, email info@mothervoices.org