Visit Mount Womanian, Womania
Original Feminist Artwork
Visit Mount Womanian, Womania, 2025, Digital Art
I’ve been trying to complete this piece for months, but I felt there was a missing component in the second version. The sky was lacking something...and then I realized it was in need of the female symbol. I hope you enjoy this creation and accompanying writing.
P.S. My artwork will be for sale soon on my website once I have the time and stability to be able to setup my shop. I’m once again on the hunt for new jobs so building my website store has been on pause. It’s a tough world out there for a woman!
When Brandi Kochan suddenly died this year, I felt as if my heart had reached a breaking point. I felt like a “feminist auntie” seeing another powerful woman leave this world. I’m so heavy-hearted from the never-ending stories of women and girls dying. I was on a quest to honor Brandi through my art, and the idea of Mount Womanian was born. The name “Womanian” is not my creation. I’ve been going nuts trying to find the source. I heard it in one of the many radical feminist presentations I listened to on YouTube. I hope I find the source so I can credit the woman who created this wonderful concept and word. All I remember is that she said the word when trying to inspire listeners to create terms for female-class solidarity. This powerful idea along with the famous “Visit Palestine” protest artwork, and vintage sightseeing postcards, sparked the vision for “Visit Mount Womanian, Womania.”
The term “Womania” sent me on a daydream, to a world where women are memorialized. I thought of one of the most iconic monuments in the US-Mount Rushmore. I’ve never had a desire to see the men in that monument, but I’ve always appreciated the artistic skill of the carved sculptures. In my daydream, I saw a mountain carved into iconic women from around the world. I could see the line of female tourists looking in awe, snapping photos, imbued with joy.
After returning from my daydream I started my inspiration board which was filled with an endless list of women I wanted to memorialize along with Brandi. I finally narrowed down my list to four women who impacted me over the past few years. I tried to pick women who could provide a broad representation so viewers could connect to this fictional place called “Womania.” Each of these women lived her life to the fullest, spreading joy, intelligence, and inspiration to all of us.
In my daydream, I imagine Dora M. Nyambe, Magdalen Berns, Brandi N. Kochan, and Dr. Moumita Debnath as members of a council of female leaders overseeing the land of Womania. They blush when they see the monument, because like so many women they’re humble about their power. They’re grateful for the honor of being memorialized and they also know their representation is connected to an ecosystem of women and girls everywhere. Together, women and girls build Womyn’s Lands that strategically form the country of Womania. We sing, dance, create, and contemplate in ways unimaginable outside of Womania. We finally live as free, sovereign, self-determined female people.
Dora, Magdelen, Brandi, and Moumita carved out spaces for women and girls in the real world. In Womania, I can only begin to imagine the impact they would have. I hope this piece can inspire you to honor what it is that you and the women and girls in your life bring to this world. Each of us makes up the ecosystem of “Womania” and we collectively create a world that’s filled with female solidarity and joy. Womania might only be a daydream now, but one day it will be real.
Art How-to:
I made this piece utilizing original images of each woman I found online, and then I edited those images using PicsArt. I took the edited images and then I did a digital drawing utilizing my Apple Pencil, iPad, and Adobe Fresco. I combined these elements together to create the final artwork. I then took my digital drawing and added text and created the two versions you see here with the help of Canva.
If you would like to edit a photo with the same effect in my artwork, here’s a basic overview of the steps:
Download PicsArt.
Find an image you want to edit and make sure it’s saved to your device.
Click the “+” symbol and select the photo you want to edit.
Select “Artistic” and then select “Emboss.”Your image will now have the same embossed gray effect as seen in my artwork.
You can fine-tune the effect of “Emboss” further by clicking again on “Emboss” and testing out the options. Download your image once edits are completed.
If you have access to digital drawing tools, you can now upload this image into the drawing program you use and create your own mountain memorial:)
No digital drawing tools? No problem. You can create a new project in PicsArt, add your edited image, and then utilize “Stickers” to create a custom collage with any elements you like.
You can also print your image and create a physical collage with materials from magazines, newspapers, paper bags, etc. or any other medium of your choosing.
If you’re inspired to make an artwork, please share your completed piece with me:)