AUTOREFERENCE

DESCRIPTION : 50 pieces sculpted in natural white clay, measuring 4, 5 and 7 cm, arranged on a surgical-style metal tray under a rectangular base of transparent acrylic glass.
YEAR OF PRODUCTION : 2019
DIMENSIONS : elements measuring 4, 5 & 7 cm arranged on a metal tray measuring : 60 X 38 cm, 

under a rectangular acrylic glass base measuring : 65.8 x 38.6 cm

 

©Aurélien Mole

AUTORÉFÉRENCE is a set of 50 pieces sculpted in natural white clay. The work is placed on a metal surgical tray under a rectangular acrylic glass base. The work’s title AUTORÉFÉRENCE, which means: reference to oneself, is by default a reference by the artist to her own body. By default, and in a serial gesture that restores a community of vulvas. The surgical tray on which the clay pieces are placed evokes the relationship between anatomy, the female organs and the role of science, functional and social assignments. 

The tray evokes a kitchen utensil, and more specifically a cooking or culinary presentation tray. 

For the artist, from a family originally from Constantine in Algeria, it evokes the preparation of countless festive mignardises, decorated with their little white paper boxes. These cakes are made for a long time in the kitchens, by the women and exclusively between them. 

Presented and served by women to men and their families, they leave an element of themselves in these cakes, prisoners of communal and social servitude (the family), of patriarchy (the father, then the husband), of other people’s pleasure. 

Vulva cakes evoke the intimacy of kitchens, where words and testimonies become subversive, unfolding in unisex, between women, sheltered from scrutiny and judgement.
Paris Internationale fair 2022
En attendant Omar Gatlato – Epilogue – Le Magasin Centre National d’Art Contemporain – Grenoble, France. 

7 avril -15 octobre
2023