Proverbs of a She-Dandy

Author: Lisa Robertson

Publisher: Cutt Press (2024)

These proverbs were originally published in 2018 in Vancouver by the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery. With permission from the author the text has been styled into a bootleg.

“Menopause, Gardanne said in 1821, is the loss of the signs of female reproductive ability. ‘Huge dangers’, he warned, ‘precede, accompany, follow the cessation of this function’. The illustration on the cover of his book shows a broken ceramic pitcher. Gardanne was at the forefront of what now would be called the ‘medicalisation of menopause’, which is to say, its treatment as an ailment, both physical and psychosomatic, of the female body.”

THAT SHE EXISTS AND MOVES IN THE CITY IS AN AFFRONT TO THE WILL OF CAPITAL. COUNTLESS CLINICS ARE DEDICATED TO PREVENTING HER APPEARANCE.

“Proverbs of a She-Dandy elaborates on a persistent theme in feminist art and literature over many past decades: a skeptical yet desirous exploration of the flâneur as a figure of agency for women. Robertson finds in Charles Baudelaire’s dandy a tangible presence for old women in public spaces.” - From the publisher