THE FEMINIST VERSION

The Greek Myth of Ariadne’s Thread & The Path Through the Labyrinth

The loose framework of ARIADNE: The Social Art Network freed us to embark on a transforming creative journey confronting the depths of sexual violence that women face. The Ariadne myth tells us “the journey through the labyrinth must be hard, the harder the journey, the more and tougher obstacles in one’s path, the more one will be transformed and acquire a new self in the course of the voyage.”  As we moved from one form of sexual violence to another we all faced our own potential “victimhood” just by being a woman. The emotional cost of this collective journey was high. The pain of facing one’s personal experience of sexual violence takes tremendous courage.  Going public with it is risky and can have unexpected consequences such as the possibility to be re-traumatized or familial rejection. We have the utmost respect for the many participants who exposed their darkest secrets and trusted us as artists to act responsibly with that knowledge. Our ARIADNE journey started with Three Weeks in May and ended with The Incest Awareness Project. In our version of the myth, ARIADNE’s “ball of red thread” leading out of the labyrinth is represents our collective “rage” transformed into action as we emerged stronger as a community continuing to demand change.