BECOMING : The Transition from Childhood to Womanhood by BLAIR TREUER

I am a storyteller from rural Minnesota, who made an unusual entrance into this craft. My children’s participation in a traditional Native American ceremony required me to make blankets as a part of their spiritual offering, and the process was very spiritual for me. Because it was the only way I could contribute as a non-native woman, I poured everything I had into those offerings. Being a creative person, I didn’t make traditional block quilts. My blankets pictorialIy depicted the Native American names gifted to my children when they were born. After a decade of creating blankets for private spiritual ceremonies, I transitioned to creating portraits for gallery display in 2018.

With this body of work, I was captivated by the ceremonial rite of passage my daughter went through as a Native American when she got her “Moon”, her first menstrual period. It was celebrated as sacred. She... was celebrated as sacred. It was discussed as a part of life, as a part of the natural world, and she was told how powerful she is as a woman. Not just the power to give life through her womb but the power, influence, and responsibility she has with regard to children younger than her and elders older than her, her peers and with her romantic/sexual partners. She is told that it is her responsibility as a woman to look after her community and to play an active role regarding the health and safety of the community. And she is told that her power is so strong that its energy could influence the natural world around her so she should be thoughtful and intentional about her impact, down to every step she takes on this earth.

“Becoming”: The Transition from Childhood to Womanhood, is a fantastical story that celebrates my 13 year old daughter’s journey and ceremonial right of passage into womanhood, and thus into her power. Important revelations in this series involve but are not limited to the following themes: Our relationships to the natural world and the relevance of imagination. Cultural views, attitudes, and communication regarding the physical transitions of the female body, definitions of womanhood and attitudes towards femininity, and ultimately the teachings we share with our daughters about what it means to have a female body and how to protect it and celebrate it in today’s society.

This body of work is a celebration and validation of the feminine in all its forms and in all genders. Nurturance, sensitivity, supportiveness, gentleness, warmth, cooperativeness, expressiveness, humility, empathy, affection, decoration, and/or being emotional, kind, helpful, devoted, and understanding are all traits which have been cited as stereotypically feminine. Some have suggested that feminine traits are contrived and enforced by the patriarchy which interprets these characteristics only as husband-and-child- focused rather than community or globally focused, thus reinforcing the domesticity of the feminine and ignoring and demeaning the value of feminine leadership styles. This collection of portraits expresses and celebrates the value of femininity, its relevance to the health and wellbeing of a society, and it elevates its expressions in leadership. Though this exhibition explicitly discusses and portrays the female body, it is essentially proposing that “our” (meaning every BODY... male, female, transgender, non-conforming)... is sacred. Our blood is sacred. And no one has the right to deny our sanctity. In a world that insists that power, relevance, significance, and worthiness is something you earn, cultivate, or fight for... I’m proposing that it’s something within you, simply because you exist. You are a sacred being.