Interview with WOW International Women's Festival Jude Kelly: People who love each other are more likely to have awkward conversations

In daily life, everyone can do the artistic practice, in your imagination, what exactly?

When the WOW Women's World 2021 Came to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, we invited WOW founder Jude Kelly to talk to us about the 11 years of discoveries of the WOW International Women's Festival and the artistic practices that everyone can do.

Jude Kelly has been artistic director of Southbank Centre, one of the most influential modern arts organisations, for 13 years. After resigning, he devoted himself to the WOW Foundation, which has hosted the World Women's Festival for 11 years from 2010 to the present, covering 17 countries on 6 continents and more than 3 million participants.

Photo credit: WOW Foundation Licensing

Jude Kelly's gender initiative in the arts, we wonder, what significant changes has he seen on a global scale over the course of 11 years? And what are the deep-rooted states that need to be shaken from the root.

Feminism was once a discarded language, and now girls can identify patriarchy

Jude Kelly, 67, is far away in the UK, we're connected across the ocean, video connected, it's 9am, the start of the day. She sat by the window of her home, waving her black nail polish and laughing, "Just call me Jude!"

Lifting up the mug and taking a sip of tea, Jude slowly shared her observations over the past 11 years: "Women and sexual minorities are not only driving the process of social change, the most significant change we have observed in the art world is that people are more determined and responsible when they give their voices, and female artists are becoming more courageous and more united on a global scale."

When she first started WOW, people weren't interested in feminism. "It used to be a discarded phrase. Of course, the change in the status quo has something to do with many tragedies, and we see that sexual violence continues to occur on a daily scale, that Malala is shot, that #MeToo运动在这时代仍是必要; in the art world, female comedians, screenwriters, and novelists are increasingly willing to tell their stories. People are starting to ask why young women are still suffering, and that can't be right.

Photo credit: WOW Foundation Licensing

In popular culture, people start talking about gender issues, which is exciting for Jude and a constant motivation for her. "It's exciting to see things really start to change, to see change in just one life."

Are you an optimist, someone asked? She replied, "I inherited the fruits of the struggles of my predecessors, such as the rights that women have been denied, such as the right to teach and the right to have children." When it's my turn, hopefully we can fight for more for the next generation, and I believe I can do it, because in this life I've seen change.

There was art at the moment of human birth: primitive cave art, and female figures

If you've seen Ted Talk'sWhy Women's Should Tell The Story of Humanity, watched by Jude Kelly's more than 1.3 million people, you'll find that the art and perspectives of women's creations have been as long as human history, starting with painting.

Jude Kelly says the problem is not that there are no female artists in history, "the problem is that female artists have always existed, but have never been recognized as celebrating, or have always been forgotten by historical marginalization." This is what Jude Kelly hopes to change through the WOW World Women's Festival, so that more women's experiences can emerge in the arts and enter the historical process. "Now people know that if there are no female artists, when we look at the world, we are always in a state of closing one eye."

At the same time, contemporary female artists bring more clear discourse on why it is always difficult for women to become artists, and WOW is connected to different artists around the world to discuss and share.

Photo credit: WOW Foundation Licensing

Jude Kelly notes that in some societies or families, only men are encouraged to pursue their dreams and fight for their individuals. "Society does not expect women to pursue themselves and does not encourage women to make dream practice a destiny. When men decide to pursue their own pursuits, people will support him, when women decide to do so, there are fewer support systems, society asks more 'why', asks for more reasons, and puts more doubt and questioning into the female brain.

She gave specific examples of getting married and having children. "What has not changed on a global scale over the past 11 years is the pre-set 'parenting' responsibility of women," Jude said. No matter what you do, you will encounter the social expectation of having children in different scenes. Having a child is automatically set up as a 'primary caregiver'. It has not changed to be a child caregiver again, and it needs to be changed more radically.

Women therefore need an environment that is connected to each other, and constant effort, "Cannot take everything for granted, the presets of this society are patriarchy, always built around the patriarchal system, it will always find ways to consolidate themselves, so we will always see a reactionary forces counter-attack, which sometimes worries me."

But she also retweeted that there was no need to be too discouraged: "Young women already know what they have to do, live in a world of certain fairness, and if someone tries to take those rights away, you'll be angry, you'll act." He winked, "Just like the presence of a woman's fan, it's a positive example."

Don't be afraid to have a difficult, awkward conversation with someone you love

Whether it's a women's fan or a WOW foundation, we all believe that everyone has the influence to make a difference. We also asked Jude Kelly to give a "daily exercise that you can try every day," she thought, giving her insight, "I think one of the things most people have in common is that it's often more difficult to act in the real world than it is in the real world of sexual equality in the public domain."

It's a universal phenomenon, she says, "in artistic creation, news writing, public-domain discussions, women are mostly able to talk openly about things that should change, but in the daily interactions with our fathers, brothers, boyfriends, and partners, they tend to avoid conflict."

"We all know that when you're with someone you love, you don't want to have this awkward conversation, who takes care of the kids, who cooks, these little things that look small, but come together and reinforce the mechanism, and it's hard to maintain that (belief) at all times."

Intimacy is one of the most important scenarios of feminist practice and communication, focusing on these tiny moments in your own life, "to change the little things that seem small in these areas of life, it takes courage."

Start a somewhat awkward and difficult conversation as an artistic practice in everyday life. In an intimate relationship, invite and discuss, and start talking every day to re-recognize your own desires, your fears, and may you be surprised to find that you have enough courage. Most importantly, give those around you a chance to work with you to create more sustainable, more anticipated intimacy.