Eve
yearning. Courageous. Knowing. Free
The Garden of Even™ exhibition starts with Eve’s story (watch on YouTube!) because it’s one of the most ubiquitous stories globally. It’s told in the bible, quran, torah and referenced in countless other religious and cultural texts.
For millennia we have learned and re-taught that Eve’s desire for knowledge was shameful. That her selfishness caused the destruction of paradise.
But what if we were to re-tell the truth and acknowledge her hunger for knowledge and her courage to know?
In mythological terms Eve embarks on a classic hero’s journey. Only her hero’s journey is not celebrated; instead, she is demonized for answering the same inner call heard by her near contemporaries such as Job, Noah, Moses, and the famous Odysseus.
As Christianity forcibly spread across the west the most pronounced doctrine of the church was that sin had entered the church through women, and that women’s tendency was towards evil, and if it had not been for the unfortunate oversight of her creation, man would be dwelling in the innocent paradise of Eden. Because of this women must be made subservient and repentant.
I can’t help but see freedom and power in Eve’s story. What was she missing and what did she hope to gain from that infamous bite? What she was missing was an explanation of an arbitrary command. By eating from the tree, Eve changes the rules of the garden and becomes, if only momentarily, like a God, knowing or having knowledge. Eve’s bite was necessary for the development of humanity. So when we see Eve, not as a villain, but as a hero, she gives us permission to step into our power and our knowing.
If I had told you Eve’s story the way the male voice wrote it I would have told you how Eve was seduced by a snake, committed the original sin, caused the fall of humanity, and was kicked out of the garden. What was that original sin? Eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of life, or the tree of knowledge of good and evil, as it’s sometimes called.
Who tells the story, how it is told, and where it is told all matter because, embedded in those stories, are the values and priorities we live by, and what we believe about women and men, power and war, sex and love. For millennia we have learned and re-taught only the male version of her story.
Common images of Eve throughout art history are meant to remind women of their ever-present guilt and shame as an extension of Eve’s “original sin”. This piece offers an alternative to Eve’s story by celebrating her courage to wake up, and come into a state of full human being.
This piece recognizes that the doctrine of the Latin church with their interpretation and perpetuation of Eve’s story dominates the history of modern western civilization, especially the origin of restrictive legislation on women. This piece confronts western society’s origin story that is based on blame and invites the viewer to celebrate Eve’s hunger for knowledge and offer her gratitude for waking humanity from its slumber.
Artwork by Moonjube
