What does a human body look like and how is it supposed to feel? This question serves as the pivot for two exhibitions currently on view in London – “Support Structures” at Gathering (until July 21) and “Unruly Bodies” at Goldsmiths CCA (until September 3) – both of which celebrate contemporary artists who look far beyond. conventional understandings of our flesh.
At Gathering, the show’s title serves as an umbrella for the ideas of nurturing and nurturing, as well as the physical feeling of being in our bodies.
The exhibition opens with a sculpture by Berenice Olmedo, a Mexican artist whose practice is inspired by her work in a children’s hospital in Mexico City. Isabella (2020) is named after the child who once wore the leg brace that forms the majority of the piece. Medical equipment hangs as if a pair of human legs occupy it, in a ghostly balance of fragility and utilitarianism. Lilac-colored straps and a polka-dot pattern soften and sexify the object, something Olmedo has aggravated by adding a pair of spiked ballet flats – surely the most unnatural manifestation of beauty.
Berenice Olmedo, Isabella(2020). Courtesy of the artist and Jan Kaps, Cologne Photography Sprengel Museum.
Physical aids also figure prominently in several of Louise Bourgeois’ prints. A crutch is seen holding the bent, drooping branches of a tree, and again supporting a faceless amputee. These etchings not only evoke memories of his sister’s physical disabilities, but also the complexities of the artist’s relationship with his family, which caused considerable mental anxiety.
Alina Szapocznikow also grapples with the existential challenges of illness in her photographs of jittery, springy remnants of chewing gum. These works were made shortly after the artist was diagnosed with breast cancer and convey the inextricable nature of our physical and mental selves, something that is often compartmentalized in medical care.
Redefining what a body actually means naturally leads to the limitless possibilities of science fiction. An early work by Nam June Paik designs a ‘robot brain’ formed from an old diary and a crude computer, while a huge – and rather creepy – sculpture by Ivana Bašic features a vaguely humanoid figure with a yellow blown glass head. . The piece is reminiscent of HR Geiger’s xenomorphs, with a body kept in a fetal state, as if it could come to life at any moment. The title, I will lull to sleep and rock my suffering light in my marble arms, is sensual and caring, seemingly at odds with this nightmarish vision. Maybe that number isn’t so horrifying after all?
Installation view, “Support Structures”, Gathering, June 22 – July 22, 2023. Photo © Gathering (Grey Hutton).
At Goldsmiths CCA, the principles of science fiction are an equally vital source. The principle of the show explores “monstrous” visions of the body, as symbols of resistance and non-conformity, where our physical selves are not defined by a smooth and conventional exterior.
An entire room is devoted to Giulia Cenci’s bizarre sculptural creatures, which exist as featureless heads attached to dead tree roots, old tubes and molds of human bones. Presented in a blackened interior, with each “figure” housed in a cell formed from salvaged shower stalls, it is a chilling vision that speaks to the shadows of trauma and the power of our own dark imaginations.
The bronze of Camille Henrot my female body (2019) is another standout piece. She manipulates material historically used to render harsh and imposing symbols of male dominance, but here it conveys the fleshy folds of a postpartum body, where the recognizable elements of a belly give way to an empty cavity. The whole is crossed by an electric cable, in an allusion to the currents of our nervous system, without forgetting the medicalization of birth.
Installation view, “Unruly Bodies”, Goldsmiths Center for Contemporary Art (June 30 – September 3, 2023). Courtesy of CCA Goldsmiths. Photo by Rob Harris.
Elsewhere, the idea of ritual performance and literally ’embodying’ folklore and myth is explored in Anna Perach’s surreal tufted costumes. These wearable sculptures extend and confuse conventional proportions, blurring the lines between inner and outer flesh through extremely tactile and joyfully ornate textural surfaces. These pieces are designed to be worn for performance, but they are just as alluring as inanimate objects.
The notion of clothing the body is also at the heart of the concerns of Paloma Proudfoot, whose experience in pattern cutting informs her new ceramic commission for this exhibition, The models’ response (2023). Each piece of this incredible painting fits together like a poseable doll, complete with gold pins. These figures overturn the symbol of the store mannequin, which is defined by unrealistic proportions and rigid passivity, in favor of a sinister and sensual agency. A hairy chest and a skinned muscular back are made gorgeous by shiny enamels, along with full breasts and a belly that has snapped the threads of their jumpsuit.
The presence of huge sewing needles, complete with a cord of red thread, may be tinged with violence, but ultimately alludes to a space for bodily care, repair, and collaboration. In this book, the words of scholar Susan Stryker that inspired this exhibition are fully realized: “I want to claim the dark power of my monstrous identity without using it as a weapon against others or being harmed by it myself.
“Unruly bodiesis on view at the Goldsmiths Center for Contemporary Art, London, until September 3, 2023.
“Support structuresis on view at Gathering, London, until July 22.
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