#womenandpower is a solo by Maria Jorge, based on a text by feminist Mary Beard. About her work, Maria Jorge says: “Mary Beard and I have a few things in common: we both have green eyes, we’re blonde although she’s actually greyer, we have the same name even though it’s spelled and pronounced differently, we’re both the daughters of teacher mothers and we both read Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Mary Beard often gives talks, this is the first time I’ve done one. From Penelope to Hillary Clinton, from Medusa to the Me Too movement, from a corner of Homer to a Twitter comment box, #womenandpower simulates how the social and political mechanisms that silence women, try to take away their credibility and keep them away from the centres of power are marked in Western culture. It’s a staged conference.” Sitting at a table, as is customary at many conferences, Maria Jorge interprets the text, while at the same time building a collection of images from different eras and geographies that depict women – a visual encyclopaedia of women.
This performance was presented as part of the Uma Família Inglesa festival programme, which mala voadora dedicated to women in this year’s edition.