Reinventing Isle Amazonia - Moving Archetypes

Many people have read the myths connected with the women warriors of Amazonia. So the stories go that no man lived on the island, the woman cut off their right breasts for better accuracy throwing a spear (hence their name). What I find most intriguing about the stories of the Amazons is that for them to be formidable they had to disfigure themselves. In another story, Heracles killed their queen, Hippolyte, to obtain her belt. This was one of his famous Labors. I find it ironic that amongst slaying monsters and beasts that killing a queen cost him no penalty but yet in due course of his penance for killing his wife and children. Myths handed down and retold until they become archetypes, written in stone. It's my work to break away from these stories, set a new course. Create something different, or at least try. It's all in the trying. When I was child, I read all these stories, because I was a tall and strong girl. People would remark that I was like an Amazon, which confused me until I read the stories of the tall warlike women. I was both proud but confused, because I saw myself more as a dreamer than a warrior. As an artist I am both. This project is not just about my story or constructing a world that belongs only to women. Rather, I am interested in what a partnership would be, less on the war on gender and more on the basis of emotional truth. We are historically a warring species. What is beneath? We need to cut ourselves away from the stone first.