Flying Blind: Monet Clark Interview

by Julie Genser | Jul 12, 2022 | Art | 0 comments

Performance art icon Linda Mary Montano conducted an Art/Life interview of eco-feminist artist Monet Clark on Zoom in October of 2021, during Monet’s prolonged recovery from a relapse of the neuro-inflammatory disease ME/CFS and Environmental Illness. Topics include: Illness as Kundalini awakening, misogyny in the medical establishment, female Hollywood film tropes, the Völva, busting the Madonna/whore complex, the feminine principal, familial decolonization, holistic theory, in depth eco-feminist ideologies and more!

It was recorded from opposite coasts with Linda in upstate NY and Monet in a remote town in the arid, windy California desert. The interview’s audio was captured by a cell phone connection as Zoom visuals went in and out. The subsequent visual gaps, Monet later filled with clips of her performance based photographic and video works and works of other female artists discussed, to further elucidate the ideas presented.

This piece is dedicated to late great video artist Dale Hoyt 1961- 2022.

Works by Monet Clark in order of appearance:
“Rise of Raven Woman”, work in progress 2021-2022
“Convulsive Stripper,” 1992
“NOW, A Video Art Ritual”, a 10 screen video installation collaboration with John Sanborn, 2018. Courtesy of the artists
“Bunny Girl”, 2016
“Performance In Nature series”, 2014-2015
“Femme Fauna” series in progress (for the “Rise of the Earth Garden and Raven Woman” project), 2022
“Poisoning/Phoenix Performance Documents series”, 2001/2007-2008
“Ritual For A Living Future”, 2021
Courtesy of the artist

Other artist’s works presented:
Karen Finley
“End Violence Against Women”
“End White Supremacy”
“Honor Unpaid Labor”
Courtesy of the artist

Penny Slinger
“Metamorphosis”
“Vagina Dentada”
“Heavy Lifting 2”
“Nurtura”
Courtesy of the artist

Linda Mary Montano
“NURSE! NURSE!”
Courtesy of the artist

Jennifer Locke
“Spells III (Tree, Candle, Levitation, Moonstone)”
Courtesy of the artist

Special thanks to Brad Yip for assistance capturing the interview, the subsequent audio/visual sync, and other editing technical assistance.

Edited by Monet Clark
Art/Life Performance by Linda Mary Montano and Monet Clark
2022
All Rights Reserved

Monet Clark Bio:

Monet Clark is an eco-feminist and performance based video and photographic artist, curator, and professional psychic. Her wryly humorous performance characters and costumes are inspired by subculture, pop-culture, superheroes, marginalized groups, history, and more. Her works address sexual stereotypes, objectification, cultural taboos, ritual, and nature’s sentience, and draw upon her experience with disability and environmental illness. They examine connections between misogyny, domination and mistrust of nature, disrespect of animals, and climate change. Monet sees her work in the art-world and as an intuitive, both as countering to patriarchal cultural biases. She was born and raised in Los Angeles and then Northern California in a mixed-race family, and was educated at San Francisco State University and the San Francisco Art Institute, where she earned her BFA. She exhibits internationally.

LINKS

art website: monetclark.com
psychic medium website: monetdomonique.com
IG: @monetclark
FB: facebook.com/monetclark2

Author

Julie Genser

Julie's life was derailed over twenty years ago when she had a very large organic mercury exposure after she naively used a mouth thermometer to measure the temperature of just-boiled milk while making her very first pizza at home. The mercury instantly expanded into a gas form and exploded out the back of the thermometer right into her face. Unaware that mercury was the third most neurotoxic element on Earth, Julie had no idea she had just received a very high dose of a poisonous substance.

A series of subsequent toxic exposures over the next few years -- to smoke from two fires (including 9/11), toxic mold, lyme disease, and chemical injuries -- caused catastrophic damage to her health. While figuring out how to survive day-to-day, and often minute-to-minute, she created Planet Thrive to help others avoid some of the misdiagnoses and struggles she had experienced.

She has clawed her way over many health mountains to get to where she is today. She is excited to bring the latest iteration of Planet Thrive to the chronic illness community.

In 2019, Julie published her very first cookbook e-book called Low Lectin Lunches (+ Dinners, Too!) after discovering how a low lectin, gluten free diet was helping manage her chronic fascia/muscle pain.
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