AS PART OF THE LAND ART BIEL-BIENNE 2019 EXHIBITION, THREE ARTISTS HIGHLIGHT SOME STILL TABOO ASPECTS SUCH AS THE SEXUAL ORGAN OR THE MENSTRUAL CYCLE.
“In fact, there is a total denial of certain parts of our body, of femininity and the origin of life.” This is the opinion of Kathy Ramirez, archaeologist and intermittent artist, shared by Bea Eggli and Carolina Borer, respectively photographer and cultural project manager at Biel. As part of the exhibition Land Art Biel-Bienne 2019,
Through the Boujean forest, the three friends put into practice those feminine aspects that are obvious, but still taboo: the sexual organ, the reproductive system or the menstrual cycle.
In a vision that is more feminine than feminist, they have connected themselves to the “roots” of the planet Earth, symbolised in Mother Earth by the Native American peoples.
ONE DREAM ONE MESSAGE
This is not new, and it is the very principle of Land Art. Nature, including the forest, inspires artists who love to deal with the soil and the micro-organisms that activate it. For these three South American artists, working with these materials represents a new artistic experience. Under three giant suspended canvases, the elements of the forest will transcend femininity until October. Set up in a week in the western sector of the Boujean forest, the installation has been explored little by little since the beginning of the year. Before linking the theme of “Roots” with that of women, the common thread appeared in a dream by Bea Eggli. “Women have the responsibility to return to the earth. Our roots are our altars. To learn the way to Mother Earth is to honour life by learning about humility”. Surprised by the power of this dreamy message, the photographer wanted to share it with two accomplices, also members of the LatinArt association.
GIANT VAGINAS
With the help of materials collected on the spot, the daring trio gives value to what is often too shameful. Sometimes subtle, sometimes very explicit, using gold leaf to enclose intimate parts, “gates of life” or bright red pigments to illustrate traces of blood. “When we look at advertising images, we see that it tends to be blue,” says Bea Eggli.
By mixing the equivalent of “two wheelbarrows” of earth, the protagonists have created a hundred balls. So many vaguely ovoid spheres, related to cells and eggs, “beginnings of everything”. Only the material being imported, the printed canvases are the work of Bea Eggli. Hanging more than seven metres high among the red pine trees, these five by two metre canvases dominate the installation.
The objective sought by their author. “The intention was to publicly highlight three vaginas, to have the same relationship with this part of our body as we have with our face, our hair or our hair.
only with the face, hair or hands”.
The message has the merit of being clear, although each observer will see what seems best to him or her…
SALOME DI NUCCIO
