Vavie, Warrior Queen of the Amazon

This magnificent photograph is of my maternal grandmother, Agnes Costa. She was born in 1918 in the Azores Islands, which belong to Portugual. In portuguese "grandmother" is "vovozinha" or "vovo". For some reason it was easier for us children to say "Vavie", and so this photo is of my Vavie.

Her husband died when my mother was 6 or 7 years old and so Vavie had to take charge of the ranch in order to support her three children. In this photograph we see her on the ranch ready to go.

I love this photo not only because of the emotions it provokes in me as her grandson but also, and more importantly, for aesthetic reasons. Either the photographer had a great eye for composition or by fortunate happenstance all the elements in this scene came together to impart a highly stylized and symbolically provocative image. The horse she's mounted on was clearly bred for hard work as we see in the chest muscles and the very girth of its neck and body. The size and power of the horse is patent and even imposing. The interesting thing is that it is in a very stylized position. The mane standing erect, the head inclined in a submissive position. It reminds me of an antique bronze like this one found in Yemen two centuries before Christ.



On this horse, a woman. The posture she affects connotes power, domination. One arm akimbo and the other holding the reins imparts a sense of control, although easy and unforced. The clothes she's wearing, the boots and overalls, are a man's clothes. In the midst of this most masculine of scenes is a woman controlling his world. We know she is a woman because of her breasts, but what makes this photograph more than a woman on a horse is the position of her head. It is inclined in a flirtatious pose, like those stylized pinups of Betty Grable. She's flirting with the men of her world, but from a position of power. She doesn't have to give him anything because she is in control.

This photo of Vavie must have been taken sometime around WWII. One of the iconic images from that time is of Rosie the Riveter. Her image was found everywhere inviting women to join the war effort. Had Vavie been holding a rivet gun rather than seated on a horse, it would have been the same image. But whether Rosie, Cleopatra, Nefertiti, or the Warrior Queen of the Amazon, they are all present in this mythical representation of woman.



I send you a kiss from afar my dear Vavie.
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