Middle-Aged Magic

There is no greater power in the world than the zest of a postmenopausal woman.

  Margaret Mead, 1901-1978

After centuries of medical science, we should think that by now we would have a solid understanding of the female body. We should think that we understand its biology, its cyclical rhythms, reproductive capacities and other magical superpowers. Its limits, malfunctions, unpredictability and arbitrary functions.

But what do we know?

Add two centuries of gynaecology, psychiatric experiments, endocrinology and molecular biology. Add feminist studies, critical humanities and the social sciences.

What do you imagine?

Add indigenous storytelling, shamanism, mythologies and religion. Add artistic expression and individual sensory experiences.

What do you think?

Add a multitude of self-help books in all forms and shapes. Add social media, #MeeToo, personal pleasure schools and empowering female body work. Add four waves of feminism and innumerous personal experiences of your female ancestors.

You would have thought by now that there were no surprises. That the taboos had been lifted.

Then think of menopause.

Perhaps you’re thinking of a grumpy, dried-up woman going through a hot flash? A woman who has lost her zest for life? An old hag? Is that the image we conjure up when we think of how half the world’s population enters this new stage in their life?

Add the work of the Icelandic Love Corporation and think again.

Written in Blood by the Icelandic Love Corporation creates a new space for menopausal celebration. A space where middle aged women can thrive and prosper. The Golden Girls reborn.

In this exhibition, the Icelandic Love Corporation presents the menopause as a rite of passage. As masters of ritual and ceremony, they invite us to reflect on our bleeding lives, our premenopausal cycles, perimenopausal frustrations, menopausal closures and our postmenopausal futures. By putting menopause on the agenda the Icelandic Love Corporation fills a gap in the contemporary art world, which seems oblivious to the massive consequences it has for half of mankind.

With their subtle humour and delicate watercolour work, the Icelandic Love Corporation reinvents the idea of menopause. With their messy splashes, dark spots, blocked organs and other references to female body parts, they invite us to contemplate our menstruating bodies and mindfully mark the time when the bleeding stops. To take a moment and create a personal ritual of menopause within the gallery space, to accept it as an achievement. To appreciate our maturing bodies, owning our age. To manifest our postmenopausal zest.

Instead of an invisible middle-aged woman, think of a post-menopausal goddess.

Written in Blood comes as such a delight. With it, the Icelandic Love Corporation seeks to defy sexist ageism and dispel the taboo of menopause by creating a space for mid-life celebration and female empowerment.

 Space for menopausal Venus. Post-reproductive Freyja.

Text by Ólöf Gerður Sigfúsdóttir