Mama

Mama is a quest for the physicality of the body. The sculptures touch upon the attractive power of peeping at other people’s bodies or images of their bodies.

Since time immemorial the female body has been the subject of painting and sculpture. Famous prehistoric clay or stone figures, which are often referred to as Venus figurines, belong to the oldest known works of art and are usually interpreted as images symbolizing fertility.

The group of sculptures titled Mama connects this millennium-old tradition to present-day, pornography-informed erotic imagery. These sculptures—balancing between the sensual and the erotic—show breasts, sometimes morphing into a phallus and erogenous zones. The malleable material clay has been transformed into something hard and artificial. A glaze was developed by Wessels to give the skin of the sculptures a satin-like feel.

God created Adam (man) from dust and from Adam’s rib he created Eve (woman), as told in the book of Genesis in the beginning of the Bible. In our patriarchal traditions women are subordinate to men and have no real identity of their own. Men consider themselves to be creators and geniuses, whereas women should serve them or act as their muse. Many stories of art and creation make you believe this to be the truth, but women have most often been left out of the story.

Title: Mama I, 2022
Sculpture: 50 (h) x 23 (w) x 22 (d) cm
Technique: Ceramics

Title: Mama II, 2022
Sculpture: 24 (h) x 36 (w) x 26 (d) cm
Technique: Glazed Ceramics

Title: Mama III, 2022
Sculpture: 33 (h) x 25 (w) x 21 (d) cm
Technique: Ceramics

Title: Mama IV, 2022
Sculpture: 30 (h) x 40 (w) x 25 (d) cm
Technique: Ceramics

Title: Mama V, 2022
Sculpture: 29 (h) x 17 (w) x 18 (d) cm
Technique: Glazed Ceramics

Title: Mama VI, 2022
Sculpture: 36 (h) x 16 (w) x 16 (d) cm
Technique: Glazed Ceramics

Title: Mama VII, 2022
Sculpture: 40 (h) x 21 (w) x 33 (d) cm
Technique: Glazed Ceramics

Title: Mama VIII, 2022
Sculpture: 36 (h) x 20 (w) x 23 (d) cm
Technique: Glazed Ceramics

Title: Mama IX, 2022
Sculpture: 26 (h) x 24 (w) x 27 (d) cm
Technique: Ceramics