Gabriele Dawe On Fighting The Patriarchy One Rainbow At A Time

Gabriel Dawe has an incredible job as an artist. He creates rainbows indoors from thread art that is simply magical!

His rainbow thread pieces span art galleries, airports and office buildings all over the world. The stretched thread pieces conjure the same effects: the rainbows dazzle with reflected light creating a state of wonder and awe in most of the people who view his works of art. Just imagine walking through an airport or office to encounter such magical artwork!

Yet there is a more serious tone underneath his artwork. Gabriel believes he is fighting the patriarchy in a peaceful way, through the use of his threaded rainbows to inspire adults to return to a more childlike way of experiencing the world.

So, how did Gabriele become a master at peacefully fighting the patriarchy, one rainbow at a time?

As a child living in a patriarchy world, he watched his grandmother teach his sister how to embroider, but not him, as he was a boy.

As he grew to his adulthood, he questioned the gender roles that dictated gender-specific hobbies laid down by a patriarchal society. He decided to break the status quo by learning the skill himself which led him to find his gift of creating wonderful three dimensional pieces of art that inspire others to view life through a multi-dimensional lens and child-like wonder.

In a recent interview with Modern Met, he explains that he started doing embroidery because he wanted to challenge the notions of masculinity that he grew up with while challenging the patriarchy in his own small way.

The patriarchy is the current system that most countries operate under. The system usually dictates that the type of roles that both genders play such as masculine activities such as sport for males and feminine activities such as embroidery for females.

He goes on to say that one of the most important aspects of his world is the colour--which he uses to help subvert the world's views of gender and identity--to allow people to express themselves as they really are. To him, tolerance is the embodiment of joy. So, not just color but the full spectrum. He loves the idea that all of these different components come together to form a unity between the two distinctive feminine/masculine roles that usually play out in society.

While issues of gender equality remain fluid as the world continues to find the balance between a masculine and feminine way of living to create unity between the sexes, the patriarchy is still the dominant force in the world. We have only to look at how governments and corporation often behave, the divide between the rich and the poor, the sick and the healthy and fighting between countries to understand that we still haven't found the middle ground. That's before we even approach the issues of gender equality!

That's how we fight any form of oppression or rigid thinking that has risen from living in a patriarchal world. We don-t fight with evil intent, nasty words or oppression. We fight through peaceful acts of creativity.

The world is a much better place for Gabriele's pieces, which span large sections of art galleries around the world. It's easy to see how his magical way of weaving all the colours into dream-like indoor rainbows inspire child-like wonder, as he fights the patriarchy--one rainbow at a time. Will you join him by fighting the patriarchy one peaceful act at a time?

I share the effects of a patriarchal world in my book Find Your Roar: Feminine Assertiveness. Will you find your voice and roar for freedom? Download your copy at Find Your Roar: Feminine Assertiveness.

(c) Samantha Wilson 2020. All Rights Reserved.