Fascism, Submission, and Art

My favorite part of Second Life is the art.  There is an art display right now called A Rusted Development which is a new exhibit built by Haveit Neox, which featuring work by Rose Borchovski, Claudia222 Jewell, Bryn Oh, and many other fine SL artists.  Claudia Jewell is my friend and I love her work, so I go see whatever she does.   EDIT:  you can see a catalogue of the display and biographies of all the artists, curator, and conjurer here (great idea, such wonderful creators!)  I was new to Rose's work, though, and I feature one of the displays here in the picture.  This segment  also features an audio component that I cannot demonstrate here in this post.  But as well as the stepping stones that tell the unfortunate soul what she cannot do, there is also the disembodied voice that tells the unfortunate soul the same thing.  "You are not allowed to read," is a block that nearly broke my heart.  "You are not allowed to think."  "You are not allowed to fish."  "You are not allowed in this market."  "You are not allowed to go to the cinema."  At first I thought it was an exercise, an exhibit, in censorship (the great enemy of art).  Then I realized it was an exhibit of fascism*, an exhibit showing what it was like to be racially marked with a yellow ribbon and segregated.  Rose's display is very powerful -- the audio as well as the visual.  The whole artistic melange is gorgeous.  It changes my state to walk among the displays.

But, taken out of context.  This path of "you are not allowed" stones reminds me of all the reasons I am afraid of submitting to someone.  When it's the wrong person, these "you are not alloweds" weigh heavily.  They are a life-sentence.  When it's the wrong person, every step along the path seems like it is branded with a "thou shalt not" of some kind.  When it's the wrong person, everything feels wrong -- and a body can feel not just helpless but also hopeless.  Put back into context, undesired submission is a fascist state of misery.  The art speaks to me.

And, when it is the right person, there's nothing bad written on the steps.  The "you are not alloweds" become "guess what you get to do for the one you serve!"  When it is the right person, the whole world looks different: the whole world looks clean.  Smells fresh.  Tastes savoury.  Perfection, dreamy, erotic, moving, wanted. Wanted.  Wanted.

*"Fascism" used here: a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control, or the effects of such a government of a body population.