art, activism and magic

Welcome to Wave Goodbye to the Patriarchy! This site is dedicated to the task of inspiring our waving goodbye to the patriarchy, white supremacy and fascism. My intention here is to share art and spellwork (and all my art is spellwork) that invokes that. Travel around the site, check out the art, find out about me and my co-conspirators, and consider joining in on the mighty spell of waving goodbye to the patriarchy, white supremacy and fascism! - Deborah Oak

I won’t be in San Francisco for the next Open Studios event, but will be doing a show at my home on November 2nd, Day of the Dead. This is a spell for a big Tsunami of a Blue Wave on Election Day. Contact me for my address and more details. Come stand under the flags in invoke positive change and then go with us on the Day of the Dead march which starts that evening a block from my home.

Some photos of past shows:

click the above photos to see the slide show.

Artist Statement “Art is Spirituality in Drag”

This quote by Jennifer Yan sums up my approach to art. Art, activism and magic are one and the same to me. As far back as I can remember I have collected things and then put them together in a ritualistic manner.  My earliest memory of this is creating a shrine to Barbie in a shoebox after an overnight with a Catholic friend in kindergarten. I make things out of things and everything I make is a spell, an invocation and a prayer. 

I feel compelled to put pieces together to make a new whole. I never know what that whole will be when I start, but I know my intention and I begin.  I’m especially drawn to using the detritus of femininity – buttons, hankies, old costume jewelry – to create spells which not only challenge, but devoke patriarchy and white supremacy. Themes that are recurrent in my lifetime have been hands, bees, hearts and eggs.  Bees pollinate, hands do the work of change, hearts are meant to open and eggs represent birth. 

Since the 2016 election, all my art and magic have been focused on Waving Goodbye to the Patriarchy. This includes waving goodbye to white supremacy and fascism. I started out making prayer flags that were imbued with this sentiment and this eventually resulted in portable prayer flags in the form of vintage women’s hankies. My other art  (all mixed media) has carried this sentiment forward and have been invocations of the same.