실비 브리에르 루치오 가데나
Silvie Briere’s works of art are imposing. The cropped torsos of women with enlarged and distorted vaginas are intensely mesmerizing. Inspired by Gustave Courbet’s famous “L'Origine du monde” (The origin of the world), Briere painted a series dedicated to exploring the origins and mysteries of the human condition. Initially, the artwork may unsettle viewers. Instead of an anatomical representation of vulvas, the painter chooses to draw eyes, lips, mouths and myriad other objects in their place. The results are equally spellbinding and jarring. In a society that usually associates vulvas with flowers and delicacy, Briere’s bolder and provocative approach feels like a confrontation. The emotional diversity in the pieces is striking—some vaginas seem sad, others scared and a few unwavering. All these different elements aptly convey the depth, profundity and complexity of women. Viewing Briere’s paintings also bring to mind gender norms and female sexual repression. The abstract and aggressive vaginas seem to be screaming, rebelling against social expectations of any kind. Possibly a nod to feminism. Briere alludes to the wounds that women withstand—both in the flesh and in the soul. She produced the works ten years before the #MeToo phenomenon but as we painstakingly learned, women have endured sexual harassment in the workplace and elsewhere since the dawn of time. In the wake of many detailed accounts of abuse and a general infuriating and frustrating feeling toward the injustices caused and perpetuated by the toxic patriarchy, Briere’s work encapsulates some of the collective rage and indignation experienced by women. Her raw work offers solace through the variety of emotions it evokes. Briere’s art also raises questions. Why is the proliferation of male genitalia accepted so widely in most societies but we tend to find the depiction of the female genitals somewhat taboo? Jeju’s Loveland
