ABOUT THE WORK
Material: performance,fresh flowers,pigment
Serpentinata is a reimagining of the 1877 Frederic Leighton marble sculpture An Athlete Wresting With a Python housed in the Art... Read More
Serpentinata is a reimagining of the 1877 Frederic Leighton marble sculpture An Athlete Wresting With a Python housed in the Art Gallery of New South Wales collection. The depiction of man conquering nature is translated into a feminist performance with a python formed from fresh flowers and an endurance athlete who periodically sneezes during the performance. The title references the sculptural style 'figure serpentinata' or 'serpentine figure' used to alter the spatial encounter of a sculptural object, seeing the need for the audience to physically move around the artwork to view it in its entirety. By flipping the intended reading of Leighton's form, Serpentinata is a performance that questions ones perception of a human and nonhuman exchange.
