Monica Sjöö died on 8 August 2005, after a long illness and is sadly missed by many people. There was a moving tribute by Ros Beauhill at Sistershow Revisited, and there is also a tribute from Starhawk.
There is also an obituary in the Guardian of Friday 23rd September, 2005.
Monica Sjöö is a radical anarcho/eco-feminist and Goddess artist, writer and thinker involved in Earth spirituality. Born in Sweden in 1938 she has lived mostly in Bristol since the late 1950's and has been active in the Women's Liberation Movement since the 60's. Her paintings are inspired by the veneration in ancient cultures of the Great Mother, the Earth. They have been exhibited throughout Europe and in America. Monica reflects her politics and spirituality not just in her art but also in her writing. She's author of the Great Cosmic Mother, Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth (with Barbara Mor) and Return of the Dark/Light Mother, or New Age Armageddon? plus many of articles in newspapers and magazines. She is also an active speaker who has toured many countries expressing her anarcho-feminist philosophies in universities, conferences, festivals and camps.
This conscience is also reflected in Monica's activism, taking part in many campaigns and causes.
As an artist her most famous work is "God giving birth" (1968) which has become a feminist icon because of its meaning and also because of the repression against it as it questions by itself all that this system is based on: patriarchism and racism. This painting depicts God as a Black woman and the human creation as a real birth (A revolutionary painting in back in those days, for she was threatened several times with legal action on the ground of "blasphemy").
Many of her paintings have also been used in books, covers and cards.
- From the Catalogue of One of Her Art Exhibitions