a GANZA on Fetish
notes on opening night of a group show at London's MAMA
February is here and for the first Friday I went to the opening of Fetish at MAMA in London. My date was late to pick me up, so we raced there- arriving 25 minutes before closing. Not ideal circumstances for a group show when I like to give time and care as well as processing gaps to each work, then together, then sectionally, then ordinally. Usually I end up photographing myself, more like notes taken during a lecture than a souvenir, with the artwork that has marinated in me the most. I’m an art historian but if you ask nicely what type of art I make, which she did that night, I’ll tell you that I am a performance artist.
Despúes de haciendo la vuelta of the show, I pulled up the QR code pdf to investigate the artist who produced the work I found to be the most compelling. Nestled on the belly of leather skin, a supple bean of sand nooks itself in a magnetic wet black shell, evoking a blackhole portal imagery with the wetness twinkling like stars under the gallery lights. The PDF tells me the minimally-chic work is entitled Aphrodite’s Pinch, and I notice the artist Ingrid Berthon-Moine is in attendance so I asked her personally to kindly tell me more.
A Goldsmith’s MFA alumni, Ingrid told me about the structural qualities about the work but also particularly focused on the marine birth of Aphrodite’s story and the conception from the severed genitals and white sea foam. I appreciated talking about this facet of the story cuz I myself had remembered the winds that are so prominent in Botticelli’s version and that aphros in greek means foam or from the sea, but the castration was lost on me- yet so crucial.
Ingrid’s other work in the show is a latex and plaster composition of naughty bits that origami into one entitled Triple A. The sculpture is a cheeky observation on how a bum with a phallus attached operates like an all area access pass holder than can skip lines, go behind the curtain, and allows the bearer access before, during and after ( the performance)
In general the exhibition was curated around the premise of reframing fetish as something experienced and seen by women. Works ranged from erotic viewpoints, still life’s of objects imbued with the creator’s desires, urges, and self-reflections, to videos and sculptures with surrealist subversions. My date was apologetic for being so late for how engaged I was. I said when we have pure intentions, timing generally tends to work out and it did. I deeply covet when an artist has the time to engage with me albeit not having the time to dive more into the meaty bites of Basia Bienek’s artichoke presented traditionally a la Laila Gohar or the fabrics of Florence Reekie. Yet I did spend quite some time thinking about the powder puff girl shaped flower “nude” pasties on Reekie’s A Natural Smooth Look. I associate them with high-school proms and being a woman too young to reveal my body on my terms. I don’t wear bra’s unless there is a purpose, for it is far too artful to me to not and that’s my bodily desire.
