AYLWYN WALSH & FENIA KOTSOPOULOU
DE VIANT WO MEN
WE L COME
about
A
patient
A
Woman
A
Deviant
Woman
A
woman,
deviant
A
hair y,
deviant,
woman
A Delinquent, divergent, digressive, deplorable, disturbed, disordered, deranged, demented, distant, disputatious woman. S h e : Aberrant, abomination, ardent, bitter, cold, contrar y, fugitive, inmate, irascible, madwoman, misfit, non-conformist, offender, outsider, rogue, shady, unruly, villainous, wicked, zealous W P
o a
m t
a
i
S Object
h
S D
h
n
e
n
. t
e
: study.
e
: .
of e
v
i
a
.
n
t
Stigma stings, pierces, makes holes, separates with pinched marks and in the same movement distinguishes—re-marks—inscribes, writes. (Cixous 2005: xi) When posing for the photograph I can look into the shutter I am more than an outlaw I am the spectator and the spectacle.
Stigma wounds and spurs, stimulates. (Cixous 2005: xi) When I surface my own shame on my body, I curate how you see it by framing where your gaze is directed. Charcot’s women of Salpêtrière didn’t get that choice.
Stigma always kills two birds with one stone. (Cixous 2005: xi) “Deviant Women” is a collection of wor ks that explores photography, documentation and materials that testify to gender’s persistent norms. In the selected work, we have sought to bring historical practices into the present by questioning how ‘deviance’ in terms of gender is produced and reproduced in visual cultures.
‘In the unarchives section, we revisit a culture forged through photography as evidence. We reimagine the documentation of hysteria and other ‘female’ problems in early psychoanalytic work during the nineteenth centur y, notably under taken by Jean Mar tin Charcot at the Salpêtrière asylum. These were closely related to the early criminological work of Cesare Lombroso and his daughter Gina Ferrero who documented typologies of criminality, resulting in a significant theorisation of delinquency in women in La Donna Delinquente (1895).
We turned to Charcot’s archives of the Salpêtrière asylum in Iconographie photographique de la Salpêtrière and to the women he captured in silent screams. We looked to the images that indicate proof of women’s thin skin—the evidence of which is marked on their bodies as male scholars would inscribe words on their bare backs and watch the welts rise. This conflation of word and flesh and the repetitious nature of the experiments hints at the volume of women subjected to these tests; for whom being photographed was to be taxonimised as hysterical—documented and stored in archives testifying to madness’. -extract from Walsh & Kotsopoulou (2020) Other wor ks in the collection bring closer attention to hair, hairiness and the shame that plays out on bodies. Using por traiture of uncanny personae, the body and its materials are made strange.
‘Where strange, hair y limbs intrude into the image, they remind us that there is no singular identity to ‘woman’ and no simple ideal to capture in photography […]The camera’s focus on body hair and her refusal to comply with normative rules keeps attention at this surface of the body. Despite the figure’s pride, we return again and again to imagine such pride working in opposition to shame.’ -extract from Walsh & Kotsopoulou (2020) Acknowledgements: daz disley Ann Disley and the Smoqua team - Cixous, Helene (2005), Stigmata, translated by Eric Prenowitz, London: Routledge. - Walsh, A. & Kotsopoulou, F. (2020) Deviant women: embodied archives, living documents (A visual performance essay) MAI: Journal of Feminism & Visual Culture. Available at: maifeminism.com/deviant-women-embodied-archivesliving-documents/
section 1
unarchives
“Talking back to Charcot & Lombroso” (2019/2021) 30 portraits: a revisitation of Charcot’s and Lombroso’s archives and taxonomy of hysterical and criminal women. dimensions: 15cm x 21cm materials: rice paper, cotton paper, ink original photographs: daz disley performance for camera: Fenia Kotsopoulou concept: Aylwyn Walsh
“under the scars”(2021) 5 skin-like sheets: a response to photographic documentation of female patients at the Salpêtrière hospital in Paris (19th centur y) where hysterical women were (mis)treated by Jean-Mar tin Charcot. These women who likely suffered from dermographism, a condition in which the skin becomes inflamed or raised when scratched or rubbed, producing visible marks; such a symptom, though, became a vehicle for medical authority to exer t its power directly on the patients. Frequently, doctors inscribed their own names on the women’s skin, thereby appropriating their bodies as a “work”. dimensions: 15cm x 21cm materials: cotton paper, ink, tread, bioplastic (glycerol, agar, water, orange peel, coconut oil, wool).
section 11
deviant tales
“DEVIANT WOMEN AND OTHER TALES” (2017) 3 (self)portraits: exploring alternative visual representations of hairy women in fashion, dance, and fairy tales. Part of an ongoing series focusing on different perceptions around the hairy body through a process of (un)becoming. dimensions: 30cm x 42cm materials: digital print on dibond original photographs: Fenia Kotsopoulou (i), daz disley (ii, iii). performance for camera: Fenia Kotsopoulou
[H]airy tale #1: Little Red Chopped Hood
Once upon a time there was a naughty little gir l who was loved by ever yone because she was a smar t, independent, recalciltrant, scrappy fighter and rebellious. Once, her grandmother gave her a little riding hood of cheap red nylon - difficult times for expensive gifts. The gir l didn’t really like it but she compromised to wear it when she was visiting the granny - but she cut off the hood; so she was called ‘Little Red Chopped Hood’ (or LiReCHo). She always also had with her a hammer, a gift from her mother. One day her mother said to her : “LiReCHo, here is some whole blanched almonds, a bottle of rum and fresh eggs; take them to your grandmother, she is making Witch’s finger s and she needs the ingredients. Set out before the butter melts, and when you are going, don’t follow the “good path”, but the “secret path” so that you pick up some snails on the way, while enjoying the view of the wild mountains. And don’t forget to invite the Woolfie; he loves cookies. He will probably be making traps for huntsmen. Indeed, LiReCho took the “secret path”, she didn’t bother to pick up snails so she stopped for a while to enjoy the beautiful mountains of the Witch Sisters. She danced for a while with her bare feet, hugged the oak tree, and then continued her journey to the woods. She was ver y lucky to meet Woolfie. He was her best friend. Well she didn’t have so many but Woolfie was definitely her favourite. “Oi, Woolfie, are you coming with me to granny’s. She is making Witch’s finger s”.
“Hi, LiReCHo! Well, only if they are going to be gluten free. Are the eggs free range? And I heard that Xylitol is much better and healthier than sugar”. “Woolfie!!! Enough of the eco-hipster and organic bullshit!!! Dare to say that to granny and she will tell you off - and she will be right this time! You coming or not? “Okay, okay....just joking!” “Well, you are not known for your sense of humour!” “You neither!”. LiReCHo, at some point when she saw the sunbeams dancing here and there through the trees, and pretty flower s growing ever ywhere, thought: ‘Suppose I take grandmother a fresh nosegay; She is allergic to it...She will sneeze all afternoon! hihihihi... Woolfie knew her ver y well “Don’t even think about it! Come on - the butter will melt”. After an hour - both distracted by the beauties of the wood they arrived at granny’s house. “Oi grannyyyyy....we are here!” “Welcome both of you! Well, I am surprised that it didn’t take you longer to come! Cool... almonds...r um...butter...time for Witch’s finger”. ...What about the Huntsman? Let’s say that that the great taste of the Witch’s fingers contain a special ingredient.. THE END
PRINT ON FABRIC (1) material: Paris Chiffon (poly) 40gsm dimensions: 137cm x 90 cm self-portrait: Fenia Kotsopoulou
section 111
shame less
“wash off the shame”(2021) 3 hairy taps and 5 hairy sink strainers materials: taps, sink strainers, hair, latex, steel wool.
Ar tefacts by Aylwyn Walsh: a creative response to notions of abjection, shame, and disgust associated with deviant women and the social abject. An invitation to: demystify the pure, clean body; question what makes us feel disgust; familiarise with the abject, what according Kristeva “disturbs identity, system, order”; wash off unnamed and tamed shame. photo by Tanja Kanazir
A triptych on aluminiun (2021) dimensions: 21cm x 30cm performance for camera: Aylwyn Walsh photo: Fenia Kotsopoulou
installation by Aylywn Walsh at Delta Lab Smoqua festival 2021 photo by Tanja Kanazir
PRINT ON FABRIC (11) material: Paris Chiffon (poly) 40gsm dimensions: 137cm x 90 cm performance for camera: Aylwyn Walsh photo: Fenia Kotsopoulou (2021)
section 1V
fur(r)y
PRINT ON FABRIC (11) material: Paris Chiffon (poly) 40gsm dimensions: 137cm x 90 cm self-portrait: Fenia Kotsopoulou (2021)
From fashion, dance, fair y tales, moving towards iconography and mythology. This image is par t of the 2021 series of (self)por traits on deviancy with references and inspirations ranging from the iconography of Hair y Mar y Magdalene to the chthonic Furies (Erinyes) in Greek mythology.
A strip of an assemblage of hair y legs, printed on fabric. material: Scuba 275gsm dimensions: 220cm x 20cm performance for camera: Aylwyn Walsh & Fenia Kotsopoulou photo: Fenia Kotsopoulou (2021)
section 1V
gazes
“look at me that I look at you that you look at me whilst I am looking at myself ”(2021) 5 series of triptych cyanotypes (self)portraits dimensions: 15cm x 21cm performance for camera: Aylwyn Walsh & Fenia Kotsopoulou photo: Fenia Kotsopoulou A return to the private, intimate space in order to play with different gazes. Narcissism, exhibitionism, deception, intimacy, vulnerability, irreverence under the scrutinising eye/I of the camera.
video
“Deviant women”(video, 2021) duration: 20minutes H.264 | 1920x1080 | 16:9 | no sound performance for camera: Fenia Kotsopoulou filming: Fenia Kotsopoulou, daz disley editing: Fenia Kotsopoulou text curated by Aylwyn Walsh.
A collection of excerpts from video works and performance for camera, dealing with deviancy, hairiness, gaze, shame, abjection, un-archives. The video has been edited for the purpose of the exhibition at Smoqua Festival 2021 and it is in dialogue with the different sections of the exhibition/installation.
bio
Aylwyn Walsh is Associate Professor of Performance and Social Change at the University of Leeds in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries, where she leads the MA in Applied Theatre and Inter vention. She directs performance practice with par ticipants referred by mental health ser vices in Leeds, and runs international project with activists in South Africa. Her book Prison Cultures, maps performance, resistance and desire in women’s prisons (IAntellect, 2019) and is shor tlisted for the David Bradby Monograph Prize (TaPRA, 2021). She holds a PhD from Nor thampton, an MA from Goldsmiths College Univer sity of London, and BA(Hons) from Rhodes Univer sity. She has performed in the Berlin Biennale, The National Ar ts festival in South Africa as well as Istanbul’s ‘A Corner of the Wor ld’ festival. She has directed work at Contact Theatre (Manchester), the National Theatre (London), Love Ar ts Festival (Leeds). She is a board member of TIDAL, working on climate and social justice. Some of her publications have been about protest in Qualitative Inquir y; Cultural Studies <> Critical Methodologies; Journal of Ar ts and Communities. She has also published about ar ts and health Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance as well as feminist criminology, prison and performance in MAI journal of feminist visual culture; Liminalities; Crime, Media, Culture; and Contemporar y Theatre Review. https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/performance/staff/504/dr-aylwyn-walsh
Fenia Kotsopoulou (1981) is a Greek cross-disciplinar y, awardwinning ar tist, currently based in Lincoln (UK), working in the fields of dance, performance (ar t), video, photography, documentation, and their inter section. She is holding a MFA in Choreographing Live Ar t from the University of Lincoln (UK), a BA Honour s in Dance from the National Dance Academy of Rome (Italy), and a BA in Italian Language and Literature from the Aristotelian Univer sity of Thessaloniki (Greece). Based on a rhizomatic approach of making ar t through queerfeminist lenses, pivotal topics of her hybrid ar t practice include: the Body as gathering place of e-motions and site of transformation, ephemerality and disappearance, per sonal and collective memor y, (de)construction of fe/male identity, performativity of documentation, hair, hairiness and furriness as political and expressive tools of deviance, and more. I In the past few years, as (dance) performer, producer and visual practitioner, her solo works, and the wor k with her closecollaborator digital ar tist, daz disley, have been shown at a wide array of festivals and ar t platforms, encompassing the fields of dance, experimental performance, live-ar t and video-ar t, receiving several prizes and awards. Alongside her practice, she teaches at the Master of Performance Practices in the University of Ar tEZ (Nether lands), and since 2016 she is ar tist-in-residence at x-church in Gainsborough (UK).. www.feniakotsopoulou.wix.com/artist
A big thanks to: Smoqua Team, Lesbian Organisation Rijeka LORI, GSG organisation, Delta Lab, and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art)