Traveling Shrines II

Traveling Shrines — Black Widow (Fifth Wheel)

Susan Hazard

Fifth Wheel (Black Widow) 2009

Used wedding dress, bicycle wheels, netting, satin ribbon, twigs, metal candle sticks, feather dusters, opera gloves, metal canister, wood, black paint.

2009

Fifth Wheel (Black Widow) Detail

THE BLACK WIDOW (FIFTH WHEEL)

The Fifth Wheel, or the Black Widow, is expressing the fate of newly widowed women in many societies. Unfortunately, many women find themselves socially unacceptable and alone after the death of their husband. They have become a single among pairs. Older women may be perceived as not desirable for sexual purposes, have been left behind by nature for child bearing, or may not be practical or suitable for many work situations. After a woman’s obvious use has been eliminated, what is left? If she is alone and elderly, it may be a form of suttee, or self-immolation on the funeral pyre of life.

This figure is on her funeral carriage, traveling to commit suttee. Suttee, derived from the word Sati, was a funeral practice among some Hindu communities. A recently widowed woman would either voluntarily or forced to throw herself on her husband’s funeral pyre. The term sati is derived from the name of the goddess Sati, who self-immolated because she was unable to bear her father Daksha’s humiliation of her (living) husband, Shiva. The term may also refer to the widow, and the term sati is sometimes now used to indicate a “chaste woman.” The practice was prevalent in India until the mid-1800’s, was identified in some countries up until the 1980’s, and is still sometimes practiced by individuals, despite it being outlawed. The women who committed suttee are usually venerated, with shrines built to their memory.

The head of the figure is the fifth wheel – unnecessary and unwanted. This figure is no longer half of a married couple. She has no face– no eyes to see, no nose to breathe, no mouth to speak. This woman, without a husband, no longer has an identity. The figure is wearing the dress from her most glorious lifetime moment – her wedding. Now it is colored black for mourning. Hands clasped together in prayer, the container dangling from her wrists holds the ashes of her husband. The long black veil is a Victorian mourning veil, reminiscent of the bridal veil, the lifting of it an indication of moving from one phase of life to another. Under her feet are the bundles of twigs, symbolic of the funeral pyre. The decorated columns with feathers are allusions of the Victorian funeral coach, which were sometimes decorated with striking yet somewhat flamboyant ostrich feathers. The bicycle rims are rickety, difficult to turn, allowing the procession to only move forward, without change of direction. The funeral cart platform is pulled with a silken rope, attached to a curtain tie-back: the curtain of life has been dropped, and extinguished.

This figure is a visual reminder of many people’s regard of older women, and the often perceived lack of their worth. It is a social comment on society’s veneration of obedient “suttee” women – women that obediently “disappear” after their spouse has died or divorced. This piece is a reminder of a “chaste” woman not making waves, or a widow not belonging in a thriving society. Old women are perceived as only waiting to join their husbands in death. This is a piece that is expressing a belief that rises from the past generations of women from silent generations, passive and non forthcoming. This is a statement that is not valid for the current generation of post-World War II, Vietnam-War era Baby Boomer women. But for many women, the prospect of being single and alone in their late years is all too familiar a fear. The Fifth Wheel, or Black Widow, is ready for the funeral pyre.

Fifth Wheel (Black Widow) Detail