THE WERE-HOUSEWIFE

A very rare case of Feminina tantum: a noun that is always used in the feminine gender, even if it indicates creatures of different genders.

  • person whose main activity is the care of the house and its inhabitants, who over time loses sight of the original purpose – her well-being and that of others – and becomes an obsessive persecutor, especially of herself
  • person whose main activity is not the care of the house and its possible inhabitants but who, at certain times, often at night or during the weekends, is possessed by an indomitable instinct that drives her to compulsively devote herself to it
  • mythological creature that on full moon nights transforms from a sweet and polite angel of the hearth into a furious, hirsute beast

I belong to the second category, mainly as a reaction to my mother, who belongs to the first.

The Were-Housewife is one of my obsessions and it returns in my work in infinite guises: in books, in Retablos, in photographs. It’s a theme about which I wonder and to which I give a lot of thought.

I believe it has ancient roots: the care of the house began when we were arboreal and at night someone would cobble together a nest in the crotch of a branch – and then perhaps, turning over in his sleep, he would fall down into the jaws of the saber-toothed tiger always waiting for the sloppy one – while already someone else – a proto-housewife – was braiding a double-bed nest inspired by the work of the weaver bird, stuffing it with fresh and fragrant herbs, thereby demonstrating an innate talent for interior design.

The concept of housewife starts, first of all, from the concept of house. It’s not a trivial matter.

A home, feeding and taking care of ourselves: they are the necessary conditions for the survival of the species – they are what keep us and have kept us alive. Essential tasks for anyone, regardless of gender.

The Were-Housewife clearly represents a deviation on this theme; how did we get to a society where this phenomenon is so widespread?

It is a vast and essential issue, which is not talked about enough.