Katz Jupiter recently re-opened her art sim, Slightly Twisted with a new centrepiece full sim installation called The Gathering of Sky Women. This is a collaborative piece by Katz and fellow artists Asmista Duranja, Fuschia Nightfire, Louly Loon, Lilia Artis, and Trill Zapetaro.

Katz describes the installation thus: “I approached each of these artists to create a piece focused on a selected goddesses from different cultures around the world. The common denominator of all of the ones featured is they were all responsible for creating the world or aspects of the world in which we live in (elements, animals).”

The inspiration for the work is Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party, produced from 1974 to 1979, which depicted place settings for 39 famous women of myth and history, with the goal to “end the ongoing cycle of omission in which women were written out of the historical record.”

“For this exhibition and the bringing together of these goddesses is a remembrance of sorts of women who at one time figured largely in the creation stories of their respective cultures,” Katz further explains, referencing The Dinner Party, “But with the passage of time their role and their stories have been largely ignored or re-written to their exclusion.”

The six goddesses featuring in the piece are:

Ariadne (Fuschia Nightfire), who as a goddess may have been the first divine character from Greek mythology to be recognised in Crete, and who is here described as, “She spins the world into existence. Hidden places and the life forms found in those places are associated with her.”

Awehai (Katz Jupiter), a goddess of the Iroquois nations, who is associated with renewal, continuity and community

Botthisattva of Willendorf (Trill Zapetaro), perhaps better know as the Venus of Willendorf, representing fertility and stability of the Earth

Mahuika (Asmista Duranja), a Maori fire deity from whom Māui obtained the secret of fire by tricking her into giving him her fingernails

Sedna (Lilia Artis), the Inuit goddess of the sea

Yemanja (Louly Loon), a Brazilian goddess from the Candomblé and Umbanda religions, regarded as a the spirit of the sea.

As mentioned above, this is a sim-wide installation, and you can either reach the various exhibits on foot (with the exception of Mahuika, who resides on a platform over the sim) or by clicking on the banners at the arrival point and obtaining a landmark to each goddess. However, I do recommend that you use your pedal extremities and walk around the sim as there is a lot to see in addition to the main installation, including additional works by Anna Anton, Cherry Manga Gee Blackadder, Kyra Roxan, Spirit Radikal, Treacle Derlande, Briawinde Magic and Fae Varridale.

These additional pieces also examine modern civilisation’s relationship with the world around us and the nature of ecosystems, and are themselves fascinating pieces. Across the island one will also find other elements of Katz’s work, making careful exploration very worthwhile.