Projects
My personal projects bring me to unexpected places without and within. They allow me to discover new perspectives on life, on womanhood, on identity and spirituality.
- The Paradise is female – Matriarchy in China – Dansh duma 73- Near the Lugu Lake, high in the Tibetan Himalayas where the leading role in the society is not taken by man, like almost all over the world, but by the women and especially by the mothers of the community. These leadership roles are not only seen within the family structure and decision making, the woman of Mosuo community in fact take on many of the more labour intensive responsibilities. The Mosuo minority consists of a population of 50.000 people, they have lived for thousands of years around the Lugu Lake. © mona simon
- The Paradise is female – Matriarchy in China © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- The Paradise is female – Matriarchy in China The Lugu lake is in the Mosuos Eyes the origin of Life. © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- Elder Mosuo Women sitten around the Mani Pagoda, a few of these praying stonehills are in every village, the eldest women in the village would gather and pray here daily © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- The Paradise is female – Matriarchy in China- Erchema 62 – The Mosuo Women work harder than man, they take all responsibilities on board and share them with their family. Mosuo culture tend to trace their lineage through the female side of the family, therefore every child remains in the mothers family. The role of the biological father who normally does not live with the child’s mother is not regarded as important as it is in our society, raising their children without the biological father is no reason to feel sorry for, in fact it is normal. © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- Gongts dash tsidru 39, is the first daughter of the Matriarch here she prepares a chicken in the main room of the house, it is the only room with a fireplace. – Gongts dash tsidru 39 – Mosuo folk song: ‘ I have forgotten all the mountains and the rivers which I have ceossed but I can never forget the hillside where my mother stands. I have forgotten all the beauties I have met but I can never forget my mother by the firepit. The cuckoos from the distance remind me of my mothers calls.’ © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- The Paradise is female – Matriarchy in China In the Mosuo culture the Women inherit the houses and make decisions but most importantly they help each other and share the burden with the other women in the family and the community, they are proud of themselves and work together to raise their children. The man have no reason to be unhappy either, they have an easy going life as they don‘t have to worry about financing the families needs on their own, they are well integrated in the family and do often more technical work, the money they earn would go to the matriarch who than takes care that the families needs are satisfied. © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- The Paradise is female – Matriarchy in China – The Mosuo Women don’t have the kind of expectations towards their partners as we do when deciding who might be potentially a good partner. His social status, interest or even what he owns or earns, are less important for these women all they expect from their partner is love and loyalty. They are aware that there is no guarantee that love between 2 Partners lasts for a lifetime . When a Mosuo couple decides to split up, the influence on their children or even on themselves is not considered as so traumatising as it is in our society mainly because the family and its structure will remain the same. © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- The Paradise is female – Matriarchy in China Gongche duma 64 and her niece Gongche Bima 22 © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- Picture of Gongts Pintso Duma on her most important Ceremony, which declared her as a woman. From the age of 13, after being initiated, females may choose to take lovers from men within the tribe, having as many or as few as they please over their lifetime © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- Ama, Gonts bima 62 preparing food for the animals © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- Mosuo woman are used to physically hard work they don‘t complain but are proud to be able to do things themselves. © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- Men are often responsible for the technical part of the work, like driving the tractor or repairing things. while woman do the hard work. © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- Pork preserved in a Mosuo Style, popularly called pipa meat which refers to a chinese musical instrument. After a pig has been killed, its bones will be taken out and some condiments like pepper and salt will be put on it. than it will be sawn up and put to a dry place so it will be spail for over 10 years. © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- The Paradise is female – Matriarchy in China Men are serving the woman Ceremony for a Newborn, Mosuo men from the fathers family are serving the invited Women from the village © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- Gongts pintso duma 19, sitting next to her auncle 34 and her cousin 17 who is holding her Newborn. A Man usually would be loyal to his own family the one he was born into. His sisters children will be the ones he would be a father for. Men usually spend the nights with his chosen wife and the days with his own Family. The money he earns would be given to the Matriarch which usually is the mother or the sister. © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- The Paradise is female – Matriarchy in China © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- The Paradise is female – Matriarchy in China © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- The Paradise is female – Matriarchy in China © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
- Chinese Tourist at Lugu Lake, waiting for a boat to cross the lake © mona simon contact: monasimon(at)me.com www.monasimon.com
We don’t need husbands!
This Project brought me to Lugu Lake, high in the Tibetan Himalayas where the leading role in the society is not taken by men, like almost all over the world, but by the women and especially by the mothers of the community. These leadership roles are not only seen within the family structure and decision making, the women of the Mosuo community in fact take on many of the more labour intensive responsibilities. During my time here I have gained an unparalleled respect for these women and the way in which this ‘unorthodox’ minority, consisting of a population of 50,000, have lived for thousands of years.
The Mosuo Women work harder than man, they take all responsibilities on board and share them with their family. Mosuo culture tend to trace their lineage through the female side of the family, therefore every child remains in the mothers family. The role of the biological father who normally does not live with the child’s mother is not regarded as important as it is in our society. Raising children without the biological father is no reason to feel sorry for, in fact it is normal.
However when a newborn child turns 30 days old the Mosuo people celebrate not just the birth of a new family member but also the relationship between it’s parents and a link between their families. In the first 30 days of a child’s life its biological Father would stay day and night with the child and his ‘wife’. From then on their relationship will return to be a walking marriage, which means the man will visit his wife at night and return back to his own family during the day, for which he feels responsible for.
This means it will mainly be the uncle who would be the father to his nieces and nephews and which he would consider as his own family members or children. Despite the fact, that the Chinese government have in the past tried to force these people to adapt a patriarchal way of life, which meant they were forced to get married and leave their mothers, the Mosuo have always kept and defended their traditions – but now everything seems to change. These days the Chinese Government have recognised this unique culture and now try to make a business from it. They have started buying the land from the Mosuo people and have already begun to build a touristic infrastructure including streets, hotels, billboards and even an airport is planed to attract Tourism from all over the world to witness the unique way of life of this matriarchal Minority. This means though, that it is just a matter of time before their traditions and way of life will fade due to the influence of money, globalisation and the touristic impact.This is happening already as these photographs show. It is sad but already visible that some of the Mosuo People have adapted a western way of life, and now exhibit their traditions more for the tourists and visitors rather than for themselves.
Like hundreds of traditional societies around the world, they too seem to lose their heritage from this capitalisation, not yet conscious that this will irreversibly cut off the bond to their past and their cultural identity. Ironically in this case the Chinese government want them to keep their traditions which can only fail when selling them a dream of a modern lifestyle.