consensual beauty and disgust. Curator
Ali notes that “as there were a few people
who had dealt with breast cancer, and
many with self-image issues, Annique’s
work dealt with both the pain and joy of
sensuality.”
Disgustingly sweet is Summertime
sadness. A silicon plastic breast
embedded in dripping pink ice-cream.
Does it arouse anything? Can I retain
the erotic quality of a disembodied
breast? Superficially, Delphine collapses
the tension, there is no desire here, no
real eroticism. Yet I found myself looking
again, examining the nipple, feeling
disgusted by my attraction to this work,
wanting to develop an intellectual
position towards it, as to avoid the
uncomfortable feelings.
And again, in Self-portrait in bed we can see the
ridiculed collapse of the part-object. Who can
desire a breast? How irrelevant is the disembodied
sensual tension when a breast-headed woman is
waiting under the sheets, almost Nan Goldin style,
for a lover or a baby to sexualise, to objectify, to
commercialise her. the contours of the body are,
nonetheless very real, hence the erotic tension
is still kept as the breast-head is intentionally
unrealistic, but moreover a real woman, and
a real breast is seen much more gently. What
are we more attracted to? What do we desire?
For me, Delphine challenges narcissistic desire
which remains disconnected from the person,
ridiculed and isolated and, like Abramsky-Arazi,
still points towards hope, to the possibility of
finding more reality and connection, if only
tension is maintained.Bang Bang is a small exhibition which invites us
to ask some big questions. It seeks to touch us
in the moment before turning our heads back,
alerting us to remain present to our choices and
possibilities, committed to a life that can hold
tensions without collapsing them into certainties.Summertime Sadness, by Annique Delphine, Photography
(C-Type Print), 60x40, 2015. Image courtesy of the artist Annique
Delphine.Self-Portrait in Bed,
by Annique Delphine,
Photography (C-Type
Print), 60x40, 2015.
Image courtesy of the
artist Annique Delphine.