Fragments - carrara marble, original body sizes of the artist, different dimensions - 2015

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»While spending a year in Rome, the ubiquitous classical antique statues there caught my eye. I was particularly interested in their many missing body parts. Originally assuming they had been lost to time, erosion, wear and perhaps transport damage, I later discovered that their incomplete state resulted from specific actions by individuals. For example, penises had been knocked off statues in eras when the Catholic Church deemed them too revealing. And when times were hard, members of the public stole extremities such as heads, hands, fingers and feet in order to offer them for sale on the black market to buyers from all over the world. These works of art can therefore be considered contemporary witnesses to economic crises, social change and religious fanaticism. I regard remaking the missing body parts as a form of artistic resistance to both their disappearance and to cultural appropriation as a vehicle for demonstrations of ideological power. ‘Fragments’ are detailed replicas of parts of my own body in all their fragility. The difference is that instead of being knocked off statues, they were produced as independent, autonomous sculptures.« 

 

Installation view Blain/Southern Gallery London, 2015