03/10/2025
I absolutely love this painting and the deep meaning behind it โค๏ธโ๐ฅ
It Was The Sound Of Their Feet (2014) by American artist, Aleah Chapin (born in 1986).
PAINTING - oil on linen
213 x 305 cm, 84 x 120 in approx
The painting is one of Aleah Chapin's Aunties series that playfully and affectionately represents the aging female body, boldly challenging traditional depictions of the female n**e. She knows her models well and they know her, which bringing both intimacy and insight to her work.
This painting was part of her 2014 exhibition, Maiden, Mother, and Crone which explored each stage of a woman's life and the relationships between generations, with an emphasis on neo-paganism and our interconnectedness with nature. The largest work in the exhibition, It Was The Sound Of Their Feet is a compositionally complex work celebrating the mature body. The women are depicted playing a game, forming a tunnel with their legs, through which each will crawl. Although adult and even advanced in years, they play with the joyful abandon of childhood. Age is merely a state of mind.
Artist Statement
"'The game' they are playing, the tunnel created by their legs represents a newbornโs journey through the birth canal. The playing of this game is a symbolic rebirth. The crones become mothers once more, and the mothers in turn become infant maidens. Playing this way, each woman experiences and becomes all three aspects of the triple goddess, a symbolic and physically intimate way to embrace womanhood. We are all sisters/mothers/daughters to each other."
