Naturture (2019)

This work -sculptures, photograms and photographs- invites viewers to examine their interpretations of sculptures of female bodies.

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Venus figurines

 Years ago, I saw the “Venus figurines” for the first time, in an archaeology class at the NYU Graduate School of Arts and Science.  These are some of the earliest depictions of human beings in Europe, dating back to perhaps 30,000 years ago.

For centuries these small sculpted female bodies have been the subject of speculation about women, playing roles in endless discussions whether men and women’s roles are “natural” or “cultural”. But we have no idea what the intended meaning was. Do they mean that people once regarded women’s power to give birth to children with greater awe? Has this sense of power been expropriated from women with the rise of the modern, mostly male scientific worldview? Do the voluptuous forms of some sculptures mean that those cave inhabitants, contrary to our expectations, lived a life of plenty and leisure which we have lost?

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We can only imagine what the makers of these sculptures wanted to say

Our obsession with the female form has not gone away. When we take a closer look at these “Venus” figures we see that actually each of them is very different, leaving the audience with an abundance of possible interpretations.