Reclaiming The Healing Arts of The Ancient ... - Wacana Seni

83Flaudette May V. DatuinPhoto 4 Ayayam 2 (Quinto, 2004)TOWARDS A SOUTHEAST ASIAN FEMININE/FEMINIST AESTHETICS:CROSSING THE SEX/GENDER DIVIDEIn the practices of Kasibulan, Seniwati Art Gallery in Bali and Womanifesto in Bangkok– three models from the Philippine, Indonesian and Thai examples – we see how womenartists return the gaze of the patriarchal vision, not only by exercising the power to defineand re/present themselves, but also by defining some of the contours of an emerging feminineaesthetic. This aesthetic is grounded on a "dialect" (Pollock 1988) that borrows from, aswell as re-tools, the legacies of modernism, colonialism and globalisation, among others.This visual "dialect" recasts the slogan "the personal is political" through strategies thatdemonstrate, not just the political nature of women's private individualised subjections, butalso the possible options for healing and empowerment for women in the region. In the artistsI cited, one possible route is the celebration of an ancient female figure – whether it be thegoddesses Sita, Mebuyan and Thoranee or the Philippine babaylan or ancient priestess. At