Romance and the Erotic Exploited and Subverted

Lucienne Fontannaz

A thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Fine Art (MFA)

College of Fine Arts UNSW

March 2014 Abstract

This studio research project explores and establishes a framework for the interplay of inner feelings and outer appearances that inform the construction of the female person. A present day crisis is identified, in which pressure is placed upon girls and women by the media, fashion and sex industries to replicate in appearance, values and behaviour, a stereotypical construction of what it is to be female.

It is argued that this fabricated, male desire-driven image has negative effects on women, as it implies an artificial type-casting that is limiting to an individual’s expressiveness; degrading by performative association; the source of strong expectations in terms of physical body type; manipulative, incurring unnecessary expenditure and ultimately damaging to the well- being of women.

Love, intimacy, power relations and violence are examined through four historical texts, as an introduction to the present context of violent pornography widely available on the Internet and permeating the lives of children, teenagers and adults. This phenomenon is having an unprecedented impact on ‘mainstream’ media images of women, leading to physical and psychological difficulties in relationships. The challenge for the intimate Self is to find a stable place within, that can be sufficiently powerful so as to enter into dialogue with the often calamitous, sensationalized and commercially exploitative world of the outer body.

In this context of identity formulation, the research investigates the chasm between our everyday experience of the private and public self and the enormity of the expanding Universe, as currently understood by physicists. Seeing the self is so prescribed by the body, it is therefore speculated that any significant change in body consciousness requires reciprocation in the new awareness of the cosmos, recognising that each of us is literally made up of stardust.

These issues were explored in the studio through collage, using contemporary print media imagery that facilitated direct physical, visual and conceptual response to the subject. As well, collage enabled extensive reworking for alternative representations. However, images of the body are inherently seductive. Consequently, the task was to create informed original works that avoided replication of the titillating images and the negative messages being critiqued.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement i

List of Figures iii

Introduction 1

Chapter 1: The Self 1.1 Inner Feelings Versus Outer Appearances 3 1.2 Collage as Preferred Medium 6 1.3 Dossier: Narrative and Artworks 11

Chapter 2: The Self in Relationships 2.1 The Self and Relationships in History 40 2.2 The Self and Relationships in the Present 45 2.3 Dossier: Narrative and Artworks 49

Chapter 3: The Self and the Universe 3.1 Time and Space: Then and Now 78 3.2 New Understandings of Self and the Universe 80 3.3 Dossier: Narrative and Artworks 85

Conclusion 112

Bibliography 115

Acknowledgement

I would like to acknowledge the generous and insightful guidance provided by my supervisor Gary Carsley.

ii List of figures

1.3 Dossier Fig. 1.1 Memory 12-13 Fig. 1.2 The Rose 14-15 Fig. 1.3 The Un-dressing 16-17 Fig. 1.4 Twin Self 18-19 Fig. 1.5 Porned 20-21 Fig. 1.6 A Mask for O 22-23 Fig. 1.7 Possession 24-25 Fig. 1.8 Fleeting Invasion 26-27 Fig. 1.9 Trespass 28-29 Fig. 1.10 Devilish 30-31 Fig. 1.11 Double-Vice 32-33 Fig. 1.12 Shield and Weapons 34-35 Fig. 1.13 Generator 36-37 Fig. 1.14 False Expectations 38-39

2.3 Dossier Fig. 2.1 Prescience 50-51 Fig. 2.2 Reflect(ion) 52-53 Fig. 2.3 Eros and Psyche 54-55 Fig. 2.4 Dark Light 56-57 Fig. 2.5 Sade’s Libertines 58-59 Fig. 2.6 Indiscretions 60-61 Fig. 2.7 Encounters 62-63 Fig. 2.8 Frankenstein 64-65 Fig. 2.9 Egos and Wills 66-67 Fig. 2.10 Promiscuous Patterns 68-69 Fig. 2.11 Deeds 70-71 Fig. 2.12 Exit 72-73

iii Fig. 2.13 The Tear 74-75 Fig. 2.14 Blindspot 76-77

3.1 Dossier Fig. 3.1 Eva 86-87 Fig. 3.2 Alchemic Self 88-89 Fig. 3.3 Catherine’s Wheel 90-91 Fig. 3.4 Celeste 92-93 Fig. 3.5 Zodiac Bodies 94-95 Fig. 3.6 The Quest 96-97 Fig. 3.7 Mid-heaven 98-99 Fig. 3.8 Contract 100-101 Fig. 3.9 The Power of Knowing 102-103 Fig. 3.10 Seeing Time 104-105 Fig. 3.11 Masculine-Feminine 106-107 Fig. 3.12 Island Universe 108-109 Fig. 3.13 Light years 110-111

iv Introduction

My Research for the Master of Fine Art program (MFA) addresses the romantic, the erotic and the exploitative experience of body relationships played out under the flickering candle lights of history and in the bright spotlight of current popular media. Further, it explores how this intimate theatre of most personal human experience co-exists within the context of the grandest stage of all - our understanding and rendering of the Universe.

This research is structured in the following way - Chapter 1, The Self, Chapter 2, The Self and Relationships and Chapter 3, The Self and the Universe. Each chapter also contains a dossier, presenting a series of artworks and a narrative. The narrative is based on an analysis of the created images and responds to writings in the field, including for example Cesare Ripa’s Baroque and Rococo Pictorial Imagery and the Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols by James Hall.

In Chapter 1, The Self, I explore and establish a framework for the interplay of inner feelings and outer appearances that inform the construction of women. I describe my preference for using in this exploration the collage technique and the inclusion of contemporary media imagery.

The first series of collages and the corresponding written narrative describe how the Self endeavours to find a context, place and meaning through addressing and responding to outward appearance, as if identity was created directly via her reflexion in a mirror.

In Chapter 2, The Self in Relationships, I address issues of gender, power relations and peer group pressure in history and the present day Western cultural context. First I investigate the early representation of couples in myth, stories and illustration. Then I examine the present proliferation of

1 eroticised images on billboards and in magazines. Furthermore, I refer to violence against women in easily accessible pornographic internet sites and point to a growing body of critical writing on these issues. Hence, my choice for the title of the overall project: Romance and the Erotic – exploited and subverted.

The second series of collages and narrative tells of the Self privy to historic and present experiences of the relationships between couples – from intimacy to violence, unfolding beyond multiple closed, as well as wide open doors.

In Chapter 3, The Self and the Universe, I consider the relationship, the chasm between our everyday perceptions of the private and social self and of the expanding Universe as it is currently understood by physicists. I explore the experience of the mind and body within the non-linear notions of time and space in current physics and in the early Middle Ages.

The third series of collages and narratives reveals that the Self now inhabits a limitless expanse, a universe in which drifting door-like stages offer glimpses of ever changing fields of universal being and corresponding understanding.

2 Chapter 1: The Self

1.1 Inner Feelings Versus outer Appearance

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions. What ever you see I swallow immediately Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike. I am not cruel, only truthful… The eye of a little god, four-cornered. The Mirror, Sylvia Plath (extract, 1961).

In this chapter, I set out to examine the relationship between a woman's inner feelings and her appearance, projected out to the world predominantly through her body shape and what she wears. I question how the coexisting potentialities of self-impression and public image-perception may empower or disempower women of any age. The degree of reconciliation or conflict between these twin portraits of the self, could be described as the body made whole or the body fractured.

In my images and narrative, I refer to historic and contemporary mirrors as ‘real’ devices through which we learn about ourselves physically and mentally. I also see the mirror as a metaphor, alluding to other people through whom we discover more of our own traits.

There is a history of body images powerfully dictating the expectations and behaviour of the individuals represented. In her book Body Culture, Isabel Crombie examines how photography was used in the period between WW1 and WW2 “to illustrate and endorse ‘body culture’… to promote ideas about utopian and dystopian bodies” (Crombie 2004, p. 9). Although ranging across eras, most agree that visual images of bodies are powerful conditioners of the way people think, feel and behave.

3

Oscar Wilde addressed this in The Picture of Dorian Gray, a remarkable story that accurately reflected Victorian attitudes to self-image and sexuality.

Men became silent… when Dorian Gray entered the room… His mere presence seemed to recall to them the innocence that they had tarnished… He, himself, on returning home… would creep upstairs to the locked room… and stand, with a mirror, in front of the portrait that Basil Hallward had painted of him, looking now at the evil and aging face on the canvas, and now at the fair young face that laughed back at him from the polished glass (Wilde 2011, p. 188).

I speculate on how strongly, manipulated imagery depicting women in much contemporary commercial media operates as a ‘self fulfilling prophesy’ increasingly promoting expectations of participation and adherence, discomfort and expenditure, in order to comply to an unrealisable and contrived ideal. British psychotherapist Susie Orbach tells us that “Our bodies are and have become a form of work” (2009, p. 6). She also remarks: “Your body… is your canvas to be fixed, remade and enhanced”… ”a body which to an alarming degree is becoming a site of serious suffering and disorder” (pp. 1-2).

In her book The Beauty Myth, the writer Naomi Wolf describes the lack of solidarity between women: “The look with which strange women sometimes appraise one another says it all: A quick up-and-down, curt and wary, it takes in the picture but leaves out the person…” (Wolf 2002, p. 75). What Naomi Wolf was writing in 1991 still resonates today: “The core of the myth… is its divisiveness. You can see and hear it everywhere: “Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful” (advertisement for L’Oréal, Wolf 2002, p. 284). Wolf sees the role of ‘hate’ and ‘envy’ serving the myth perfectly (p. 285). She also remarks that “One source of discomfort about being a woman in this

4 culture is that the language we have with which to talk about our bodies… is so very awful…”(p. 4).

Looking at fashion and fashion photography from the 1960s onwards, one can see an increase in allusions to the active sexuality of the body, reflecting the social sexual revolution of the day. Following the lead of celebrities, such fashion was eagerly sought by the consumer/wearer who adopted and displayed similar values and mores.

“Age compression, the phenomenon by which girls are expected to dress and behave older than their years, is accelerating” (Orbach 2009, p. 114). Behaviour does influence its representation, but does representation of behaviour influence behaviour? As such, these images become powerful vehicles, even justification, for the objectification of women. “The stereotype is the Eternal Feminine. She is the Sexual Object sought by all men, and by all women... Her value is solely attested by the demand she excites in others. All she must contribute is her existence” (Greer 1993, p. 67).

Today, the stereotypical exploitative nature of the representation of girls and women in fashion and other media is a source of concern especially if the adopted image-characteristics are those normally associated with pornographic images. That is, the clothes, poses and expressions of ‘sex for sale’ become adopted and accepted as a cultural norm for the expression of image.

In her book The Becoming of Bodies, Rebecca Coleman mentions author Rosemary Betterton’s belief that, “women cannot experience themselves as purely subject because they are also always capable of being objectified, of becoming objects” (Betterton, cited in Coleman 2009, p. 9). This comment, according to Coleman, supports Simone de Beauvoir’s reference to mirror images, where she “points to both the restricted nature of women’s look and

5 the narcissism which positions women as object rather than subject” (Beauvoir, cited in Coleman 2009, pp. 9-10). Coleman mentions the “potential to replace the dichotomy of man/woman, masculine/ feminine, subject/object, with flows, processes and becoming” (2009, p. 24).

My images related to ‘The Self’ portray a woman occupying the centre of the page, such as in fashion magazines, but also as reflected in a vertical full length mirror. Silhouettes are positioned within an undefined place, space and time. The figures manifest an interplay of harmonious and clashing eras, actions, thoughts, emotions and feelings, clarity of identity and confusion. There are disguises, shields, masks and acts of voluntary and involuntary metamorphoses as well as overlays of maleness, femaleness of the human, animal and bird kingdoms.

Observing the woman standing at the mirror and the woman reflected in the mirror, I am asking, as many of us do: which one is more real?

1.2 Collage as a Preferred Medium

Collage was the medium I found to be most appropriate for exploring the subject of the representation of women in the media - it facilitated direct physical and conceptual links to the subject. Furthermore, collage by its nature accumulates pictures and associated behavioural representations from which an aggregated image results. There are strong parallels here with the assembly of identity, emerging as it does from the inter-relationship of one’s image and actions in society. Consequently, my studio work has involved, as a point of departure, the use of photographic images of women and men, obtained from various current popular magazines that feature the body. They range from fashion to fitness training to an admittedly less mainstream but nevertheless increasingly visible and easily available category of

6 magazines featuring pornographic images. In each of these publications, the subject of my research is laid bare. Their dynamic body descriptions are already powerful, and very likely ‘enhanced’ by Photoshop. Therefore, I can readily capitalize on them for assessment and critique, and by direct use, I avoid dissipation through any unnecessary mediation. I can respond directly and effectively to that content which is the evidence of my concern and discomfort. The same power the photographer and picture editor invested in the image, remains largely intact after my collages are completed. However, I have reworked these pictures for an alternative, shifted meaning and impact, placing them in a new context for a new audience. Therefore I can claim authorship of the resulting images.

In regard to my finished works, I do not attribute the photographer, art director nor model in the fashion or pornographic magazine images used. I justify this in three ways. First, the original images do not carry such attributions. Second, the degree of editing (cropping, tearing, over drawing) I undertake with each image is considerable, rendering the original hardly, if at all, recognisable. Concerning this point, I have deliberately eliminated any possibility of the recognition of individual models. Finally, I lay claim to the collagist’s tradition of free and uncredited use of ‘found images’ reinforced by the more recent examples of Post-modernisms’ appropriation of both contemporary and historic imagery.

Unlike Pop Artists and Nouveau Realistes who capitalized on, even relied upon, the viewer being able to readily recognise the original source of the depicted image, I am not seeking specific and recognizable reference points in my use of popular culture’s visual material. I am not drawing attention back to the magazine image, in terms of either the action or primary values the magazine represents. I am altering, trashing and/or enhancing it. I bring the images together as evidence of a contestable present.

7 My approach is also in contrast to that of Brisbane-based artist Leah Emery. The evident reproduction of pornographic images from magazines and the internet is intrinsic to her current work. However, to realize her artworks, she uses the unlikely and perhaps incongruous, craft medium of cross- stitching. The contrast between the images we expect to see in embroidery and the risqué ones she reproduces, marks the very place where the shock effect both operates and is moderated.

I have often combined popular print media images with reproductions of details from historic art works and scientific drawings. As art historical and scientific images of earlier times are literally a record of the past, what they represent is both powerful and fascinating. Drawing on such information allows me to better situate and evaluate where we stand today, in the second decade of the 21st Century, and it permits me to contextualise my thoughts, feelings and beliefs.

In addition to collaged materials, I have been using techniques of drawing and painting to alter, moderate and transcend the ‘obvious’ stereotypical magazine images, to create new, more complex narratives. Most of the collages are finally covered with a transparent film carrying its own printed image that creates yet another layer of responsive interpretation and complexity. Overlapping and intertwining these additional layers within the depicted woman, allows me to create subtle, ambiguous narratives that express the complexity of inner/outer dichotomies.

In this sense, collage can be seen as authorial. It consists of an assemblage of elements from previous ‘authors’ to create a new narrative. Arguably, it could be likened to writing: ideas are expressed through assembling words into phrases; phrases into paragraphs; and then these all combine to make a whole text. Similarly, a collage artist juxtaposes existing images until these convey the relevant metaphors and new overall messages. The publisher of a

8 graphic novel by Max Ernst, Une semaine de bonté, likened the images to the “oneiric visions and erotic fantasies” of the Surrealists. He pointedly indicated that “for artists concerned with the free association of images, with the meaningful re-assemblage of disparate objects and with the play elements in art, collage was the quintessentially appropriate technique” (Publisher’s note 1976, p. V).

Sydney based artist Deborah Kelly produces such composite images. In these, an organic interplay of women’s bodies with vegetation and animal forms invites us to experience simultaneously - witty and delightful erotic games, a resonance with grand myths, and intimations about current debates on the representation of women in the media.

Using her camera and her own body, while deliberately working within the conundrum of conflicting messages in relation to visuality and sexuality, Sydney artist Julie Rrap has endeavoured to comment on male response to the female nude. In the 1970s, she explored gender issues looking at subject and object - the artist and the model in art history. She completed large unsettling collaged images in which she played the roles of both the observed and the observer - the feminine seducer and feminist activist.

When commissioned by ArtForum in 1981 to create a series of magazine Centrefolds, American artist Cindy Sherman disappointed and robbed the expectations of the male gaze by producing photographs of herself in full recline in deliberately ‘non sexual’ poses and dress, thus adopting the opposite of an engaging expression.

In my approach to the imaging of women, I wish to show the many nuances by means of layers that signify deep-seated feelings as well as the complexities of representation. The work of the Tasmanian-based artist Pat Brassington resonates with me in the overt and covert messages conveyed.

9 At the same time her images are both mysterious and ‘in your face’. She creates this tension through montage and the digital manipulation of photographs, which often depict parts of women’s bodies. These images can be slightly out of focus, as if the subject has sunk into the very fabric of the paper. Their arresting surrealist style and melancholic tone, play on the viewer’s imagination. The impact is often profound. In this dialogue with the viewer, Brassington converses from the depths of her psyche.

There would perhaps be an even greater number of visual artists who address the issue of imaging women and their sexuality - especially considering how seriously such issues impact on women and consequently on society as a whole – if there wasn’t (as I discovered myself) an inherent difficulty and risk in this task. That is, the challenge is to engage with the issues via images that do not replicate the same negative messages that are conveyed at the heart of the discourse through the use of attractive, inviting, flirtatious, visual depictions of the female body. This problem does not reside in the same way within words and writing. It seems to be intrinsic and more powerful in the visual realm. Arguably, this is because we interpret words within our own subjective and predictable spectrum of experience, thereby staying within our own frame of reference. Consequently in writing, there is less of that analogous risk of titillation reinforcement. This could be an explanation for the increasing number of insightful books published at present on the subject of the representation of women in the media, the fashion industry and notably in internet pornography.

10 1.3 Dossier: Narrative and Artworks Figs 1.1 – 1.14 and associated narrative All artworks: Lucienne Fontannaz, 2012-2014

In this first Dossier, The Self, my collages and narrative portray a woman oc- cupying the centre of the page, as in fashion magazines, but also as reflected in her personal full size mirror. Fig. 1.1 Memory The tall Looking Glass stands and waits silently. Behind the shiny surface, an uninvited presence destabilises the narrow stage. It is Memory. Her arms are bound, but within her, mechanisms never cease to grind out past histories, unearthing fragments of lives from depths unknown. It could be a bottomless well of fleeting recollections, of both precious and tormenting moments. Remi- niscent of an ancient sculpture sitting on a plinth of light, she is cold and unfor- giving, ignoring the here-and-now. Some might shiver at the thought that she could suddenly turn her head and reveal her face (of what age?) to the present.

Fig. 1.2 The Rose Then, Memory speaks of medieval times. Readers of this early page appear to witness several footprints in the still fresh soil under the rosebush. On a sunny spring morning, a young man dressed for the occasion, took a walk with the greatest anticipation of finding the Rose. His courtly fingers lovingly open the enticing first section of the manuscript in the hope of seeing and approaching the young Rose, but they are never to reach Her. She will fall prey to a second storyteller of the extended novel, just as this author’s persistent hand will reach, pick and deflower her in the very final pages.

Fig. 1.3 The Un-dressing Memory knows too well the complex scenario that plays out on this stage. Within the woman’s silhouette inscribed in multiple layers, is the legacy of history - or is it His story? Confusion sets in as she persists in trying on more and more dresses only to immediately discard them. As a little girl, she used to place prim cut-outs of clothes with attaching tabs, onto undressed, flat, card- board dolls. Now she appears to reverse the game of dressing the body ... for adults only. Outside, trees seem to move gently as if echoing her elegance and pace. But, does she remember a closer, too familiar arm raised in alarm, pos- sibly warning her that she could fall apart anytime, leaving on the floor frag- ments of drapes and body, all remnants of this fantasy for dressing?

Fig. 1.4 Twin Self Framed by the Looking Glass, each twin character, the inner and the outer, is facing the other. One moment, she is a timid presence, a silhouette standing still, emptied of herself and masked for protection. At another moment, she feels that her outwardly twin self is brought forward, rejoicing at the presence of hands that might in no time trigger the sharpest sensations and melt her statuesque Self down into near bliss. At such times she may be in control of her feelings, in charge of the moment. Even then, her figure seems indistinct, behind a milky veil. Is it the outside world’s expectation that she maintain a distance?

The woman exits, alone, through the stage door on the right. Her reflexion slips through the door on the left. They meet again, out there, as Reflexion is mischievously taking on various roles, metamorphosing into each and every person the woman encounters, granting various critical readings of her attire.

Fig. 1.5 Porned If one person perceives her dress as that of a gentle presence and seeks friend- ship, another interprets the garment as a magnet for passionate love. Some encounters inspire jealousy, hatred of the dress and even of the woman within. Is she actually exposed or is she exposing herself? An object of touch, caresses and insertions, she may be possessed by both a desire from within and by vo- yeurs at the borders of her arrested silhouette. She becomes flesh, muscles and nerves activated all at once into rapture.

Fig. 1.6 A Mask for O The heavy presence of naked, incandescent flesh projected onto her, is at odds with a dignified stature. Her heart and body might not relate. The imposi- tion of the owl facemask is visibly smothering her delicate neck, however, she appears to stroke it gently, an enigmatic smile softening her face. Could this embrace take her away, towards an impossible dream? Rather, she is a lost soul who belongs to all and no one, maybe the least, now, to herself.

Fig. 1.7 Possession They speak of a poised and luminous woman, whose masked face slowly van- ishes from within, just as she is about to abide the promise and power of strong wrists and ropes. Does she know where she is being lead, what balancing act she may have to perform?

Fig. 1.8 Fleeting Invasion She is sliding sideways, away from a softly-lit familiar place, into a dark and dense world of stifling muscle, which seems to grasp both her Self and her faithful shadow. Such is the confusion brought by this possessive intrusion that her body has forgotten. Which arms and legs are hers or his? The mutation leaves her hands and feet numb.

Fig. 1.9 Trespass She appears locked within her definitive outline, offering only a keyhole yet intense view into her world. That narrow space is filling, crowded now with many presences, an imbroglio of turbulent lines that define interconnecting bodies and animated faces, indistinguishable and voiceless sounds. Soon there may be no room for being, even for breathing.

Fig. 1.10 Devilish It is medieval times: it is present time. A treacherous religious road, with ever repeating, grievous scenarios brushed over, pushed down with silence. When privy to the many temptations and machinations of the Church, she covers her eyes in shame, for unspoken blasphemy pains her once trusting soul.

Fig. 1.11 Double-Vice At first glance, she is not welcome here. The creature she faces stands awk- wardly high within a beam of light, his severe outlook disconcerting and fear- ful. She is afraid that this automaton could suddenly crank open its twin chest and emit bellowing noises to both terrify and silence her rightful fear of being entrapped in this hideous cloak of velvet and vice.

Fig. 1.12 Shield and Weapons Her stride is unsure now, she might not trust the height of her vertiginous heels, her legs shake under the burden of a battle-readied body. Simultaneous- ly, she appears to celebrate and mourn her core self, draped in heavy cloth. The black of her dress is now impenetrable, as armour must be. From inside her head, chimneys are busy forsaking the smoke of dark trauma. But, she will not be forever subjugated. Armed with a shield and weapons, she will ultimately return strengthened, when she might well inspire the next generations to fight. But this is not yet an outcome.

Fig. 1.13 Generator In competition, overlapping lines lead across time and place, saying one thing, but meaning another. If one of these defines the placid linear presence of a naked woman, another interferes and breaks through to depict an enigmatic female figure who points a domineering hand towards a child. As he recoils - for his heart demands freedom - a masked baby forces its way into a menacing world, perhaps seeking revenge. We may be entering the womb of uncertain life on earth.

Fig. 1.14 False Expectations She looks ahead to a future with both expectation and apprehension, her body like a vulnerable space in danger of assault from external forces. Are the shad- ows next to her allies, her inner voices? Her silhouette is surrounded, perhaps ambushed by the world’s construction of expectations for her fragile being. These shadows appear to be domestic and delicate at first, but they are also threatening and her future prospects could be looming darkly, distant at first, yet emerging from depths of Neptune’s black water.

She notices to the left and right of her own Looking Glass, a multitude of dis- parate doors. She wonders about possible scenarios that could be unfolding in the rooms, unknown as yet, that lay beyond.

Chapter 2: The Self in Relationships

2.1 The Self and Relationships in History

Figurées, défigurées (Figured, disfigured) ( Lascaux G 1977, title page).

In this chapter, I investigate how women have been viewed within Western societies, both literally and symbolically, in key historical periods from Antiquity to the present: in particular through illustration, myths and stories where body image is a powerful proponent of relationships that advance the conditions of romance, love, sexual liaisons and exploitation.

Myths, stories, poetry and novels inform us about the way couples have interacted throughout history. In this section of Chapter 2, I refer mainly to four texts of high literary merit (and popularity) dating from the second Century AD to the middle of the 20th Century. Two of these could be considered as extreme examples of both exploitation and subversion. They will serve as an introduction to the discussion of the present context of pornographic violence on the internet, which is infiltrating so many aspects of our lives (see 2.2.).

Several characters featured in the following stories appear in my three series of collages. It is not intended that they illustrate the original stories, rather they feature as symbolic figures. The frequent references to French texts and history is due to my cultural background. Consciously or unconsciously, I am bound to express this cultural dimension in my images, my writing and my life.

While the issues I raise are also relevant for women outside of a Western/First world context, any additional scope of representation, behaviour and exploitation is too broad for consideration in this thesis.

40

The texts I have selected are: the Greek myth of Amor and Psyche by Lucius Apuleius, second Century AD; the 13th Century French Roman de la Rose (Romance of the Rose) by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun; the 18th Century 120 journées de Sodome (120 Days of Sodom), by the Marquis de Sade; the 20th Century novel Histoire d’O (Story of O) by Pauline Réage.

Bruno Bettleheim, in his book The Uses of Enchantment, indicates that the Greek myth of Amor and Psyche (which draws from even older sources) inspired many Western tales to which we now refer as of the ‘animal-groom’ cycle, the most famous being the 18th Century fairy tale La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast) by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont (1757). Both stories address the psychological process of woman’s sexual maturation from childhood to adulthood. “Psyche tries to reach for knowledge when – contrary to the warning she was given – she lets light fall on Eros...”, writes Bettleheim, “... but the story warns that trying to reach for consciousness before one is mature enough for it… has far-reaching consequences” (1989, pp. 291-293).

…Psyche went to her bed, for the hour was late… At length her unknown husband came and climbed the couch, made Psyche his bride, and departed in haste before the dawn (Apuleius cited in Neumann 1973, p. 11).

Psyche’s older sisters warned her:

“He that lies secretly by your side at night is a huge serpent with a thousand coils; blood and deadly poison drip from his throat and from the cavernous horror of his gaping maw” (p. 22) …But as soon as the lamplight revealed the secrets of the couch, she saw the kindest and sweetest of all wild beasts, Amor himself… (p. 25).

Bettelheim explains that “The incredible hardships Psyche has to [consequently] endure suggest the difficulties man encounters when the

41 highest psychic qualities (Psyche) are to be wedded to sexuality (Eros)… This is represented by Psyche having to enter the underworld and return from it…” (1989, p. 293).

The Early Middle Ages marked the beginning of an intensification of the accusatory position the Christian Church took in relation to women’s sexuality and in fact sexuality in general. Running parallel, more specifically in the aristocratic French milieu, there was an idealisation of the ‘dame’. Itinerant lyric poets, the troubadours, would sing about chivalry and courtly love (fin’amor), describing the ‘pure’ sentiments of the chevalier (knight) towards the inaccessible object of his love.

The allegorical Roman de la Rose was the most famous French poem/novel for 300 years from the 13th to 15th Centuries. It was started by Guillaume de Lorris in 1230 and some forty years later was completed by Jean de Meun. Significantly, the two authors projected a contrasting apprehension of love. The first revealed a sensitive, poetic understanding of the Rose/woman, ‘courtly style’. The second writer imitated the daringly explicit, erotic literary genre of Greek and Roman times - an approach that can also be found in the fabliaux (or bawdy tales) of the French Middle Ages - as he described the deflowering of the Rose in demeaning, violent terms, that approached the pornographic.

Finally a very sweet and lovely girl... flesh more tender than that of a baby chick… Her breath was sweet and savory, her face white and colored… She had a bosom as white as the snow upon a branch, when it has just fallen (De Lorris, translated by Dhalberg 1971, pp. 37-38).

…and then, to enter the sheath safely, wished to put my staff into the aperture, with the sack hanging behind. Indeed I thought that I could shoot it in at the first try, but it came back out… I had to assail it

42 vigorously, throw myself against it often, often fail. (De Meun, translated by Dhalberg 1971, p. 352).

The differing attitudes towards women, revealed in each of the two parts of Roman de la Rose led remarkably, a century after its publication, to a major literary quarrel named Querelle du Roman de la Rose, instigated by Christine de Pizan, a prominent poet and court writer who has often been accredited as an early feminist.

Misogyny, violence and death are characteristic of the acts perpetrated in the Marquis de Sade’s most famous 1785 novel 120 journées de Sodome. In the book, Sade tells of four wealthy men seeking sexual gratification in orgies, with vivid descriptions of torture. It should be noted that many libertine men of the time staged even more outrageous orgies than those orchestrated by Sade. Regardless, the tyranny that the Marquis could exercise in these events provided him with an illusion of power, such that his whole life took on meaning through the extravagances of the extreme pornographic acts, both real and imaginary.” His chief interest for us lies not in his aberrations, but in the manner in which he assumed responsibility for them. He made his sexuality an ethic; he expressed this ethic in works of literature” (De Beauvoir 1962, p.15). Not surprisingly, he was charged, sentenced and incarcerated for his deeds against women, yet it is while in the Bastille that he wrote his summative work, 120 journées de Sodome!

In 1975, Pier Pablo Pasolini created Salo, an arresting film based on this novel. The production and screening raised considerable controversy due to its graphic scenes and it remains banned in several countries. Pasolini’s transposition of the 18th Century 120 journées de Sodome to mid 20th Century Salo in Italy, just after the fall of Mussolini, is brilliantly interpreted, convincingly emulating the atmosphere, characters and plots created by

43 Sade. This production by Pasolini could be interpreted more broadly as a critique of the abuse of power by governments and individuals.

One of the most renowned erotic stories of the 20th Century is Histoire d’O, written in 1954. Some liken the story to a legend. The novel was allegedly written by a French woman with the nom de plume of Pauline Réage. The American psychoanalyst and author Louise J. Kaplan describes the story as “the most famous attempt to create a ‘feminine’ pornography”. She alludes to Réage’s ability to “slip into the skin of her slave-like heroine” (Kaplan 1993, p. 337).

Would she ever dare tell [Sir Stephen] that no pleasure, no joy, no figment of her imagination could ever compete with the happiness she felt… at the notion that he could do anything with her, that there was no limit, no restriction in the manner with which, on her body, he might search for pleasure. (Réage 1954, p. 187).

While I was struck by the heroine’s overwhelming longing for love and acceptance, it is true too, as Kaplan writes, that “the author was deceived if she believed that pornography was about erotic love” (p. 339).

Sir Stephen ordered for the box of masks to be brought to him. O tried on each of the masks. The most striking, and the one she thought transformed her most… was one of the owl masks… the cope of feathers almost completely concealed her shoulders, descending half way down her back and, in front, to the nascent curve of her breast. …Sir Stephen… said to her as she took off the mask: ‘All right, you will be an owl for the Commander. But O, and I hope you will forgive me, you will be taken on a leash (Réage 1954, p. 193).

Kaplan, referring to the end of the novel, concludes: “Now that Stephen has put her body on public display and given her body to another man to be open all the way, the O that was once a flowering sexual being will be free to

44 be nothing at all – a Zero”. And further: “…a Zero that reveals the death mask grinning behind the mask of love” (1991, p. 340).

The subject of erotic novels written since Histoire d’O (mid 20th Century) is too broad to include in this paper. It should be noted however that quality varies and ranges from significant literary works to novels indulgent and excessive in their sexual references, to magazine articles. Regardless of these issues of quality, this category of literature is popular with writers, publishers and the reading public.

2.2 The Self and Relationships in the Present

In Chapter 1, I identified issues with the body image, behaviour and identity of women and I discussed ideals of beauty that emanate from the commercialization of female eroticized imagery in the advertising, fashion and pornography industries. I noted that in our society there are many contradictions regarding women’s self-image and sexuality. Therefore the question can be asked - are these current portrayals of women signs of liberation and empowerment or entanglement and subjugation? Or, possibly, they are attempting to maximise their currency of femaleness by the presumption of being all things to all women (and men). “The erotic photograph trades on a dubious tradition of sexual libertarianism, which invests that which is censored with the power to disrupt and liberate” (Myers in Arnold 2001, p. 75).

In this chapter, I examine current images in advertising, fashion, and sex industry that can, within relationship settings, become supercharged as an influence, emotionally and physically. Consequently, the generative force of the body to be possessed becomes overpowering for either or each party. Therefore, the ‘attractiveness’ of the human body and the potential for a

45 corresponding ‘desire’ holds within it the potential to be exploited, even corrupted. This is my prime concern and focus.

It is widely recognised in credible research that pornography, soft and hardcore, is having an unprecedented impact on mainstream media images of women, and consequently on the self-image, behaviour and values of women. I have not wished to delve into a review of pornography itself, rather, I recognise it exists and wish to respond to its impact. Consequently, I have explored contemporary writing on the subject.

Australian writers and activists Melinda Tankard-Reist and Abigail Bray, in their book Big Porn (2011), challenge the “libertarian conceits that pornography is simply about pleasure, self-empowerment and freedom of choice” (p. 8).

Naomi Wolf doubts young women (and men) are aware that they are so conditioned by the manner in which couples relate within internet pornography that they themselves can no longer initiate moves or respond to a partner by invoking their own sensuality (Wolf 2002, p. 5). “It is rather something that requires lessons and preparation” (Orbach 2009, p. 117).

With easy access to the internet, violent porn is becoming an increasingly mainstream phenomenon, and viewers include boys and girls in their early teens. I question how people of all ages feel in relation to these images, whether they need to respond to the underlying narratives, to in turn find self-expression. In her book Pornland (2010), Gail Dines describes what current violent porn images might invoke to a person new to the genre: “a parallel universe where the complexity of humans, the multiple pleasures of life, and the deep connections that nourish and sustain us vanish” (p. xvi). She questions why - considering that violent sexual acts are not what the majority of men and women want or engage in - so many men are viewing

46 acts on the internet that don’t reflect what mostly happens in the real world (p. xxvii).

Examining what she describes as ‘mainstream’ pornography, Australian writer Emily Maguire remarks that “the ‘frisson’ often comes from the sense that the women either do not like or do not understand what they are doing” and further indicates that “there are whole brands and genres explicitly promising their audience that the women involved were tricked or abused” (2010, p. 155). Maguire was told by a former porn actor, now journalist that “most girls who enter this industry do one video and quit” (p. 154), their first experience being so physically painful and also degrading.

These images are about seeing just how far you can push a woman’s body before it is injured, remarks Gail Dines (2010, p. xxii). “There is a story to tell”, she adds, “about how we got to the point that mainstream internet porn has become so hateful and cruel” (p. xxix).

In her book Female Perversions, Louise Kaplan declares that pornography has always been about sadistic aggression, murder and dehumanization (1993, p. 343). She deplores the fact that the involvement of organized crime in the production of pornography is still largely overlooked by to-day’s law enforcement agencies (p. 345).

As this situation is of concern, it is important to note that these significant critical assessments are now being readily voiced in magazine articles, books and current affairs programs, with the authors and participants often referring to themselves as belonging to a new wave of feminism. Although this critical reaction is a phenomenon of Western cultures, it is also present, albeit to a lesser degree, in societies and cultures where the role and place of women is even more subjugated to the dictates of men.

47 Contemporary French philosopher Michel Onfray, in Le souci des plaisirs (2008), argues that the dark side of sexuality has its foundation in Christianity’s construction of a culture of death and torture, hatred of women and the feminine (p. 48), which he likens to Sade’s attitude (p. 123). Onfray quotes Nietzsche: “Le christianisme a fait boire du poison à Eros: il n’en est pas mort, mais il est devenu vicieux” (Christianity has made Eros drink poison, and while he has not died, Eros has become vicious) (p. 9). Christian clerics, together with laypeople, believed women had an insatiable sexual appetite. The themes of popular 12th and 13th Century French fabliaux reflect this sentiment (Verdon 1999, pp. 5-9). Not until the 18th Century, when women were able to express a counter position through writing as poets and novelists, did they indicate that in fact the reverse was true: men were the predators (Dabhoiwala, 2013).

Looking at historic and present partner/couple relationships and working on their representation in my collages, is a means to understand possible constants, variations and changes. It is also about imagining a future. My aim is to achieve a resolve between a critical analysis of past and current approaches to imaging women, individually and in relationships, and to work towards a celebratory representation of the body, gender and sexuality.

48

49 Dossier ‘The Self in Relationships’ Figs 2.1 – 2.14 and associated narrative All artworks: Lucienne Fontannaz, 2012-2014

In this second Dossier, The Self in Relationships, my collages and narrative depict women as parts of couples, through time and in the present. The inter- actions often reveal submission, violence and disillusion. Fig. 2.1 Prescience Red for: passion, anger, victory, destruction, red for: courage. Behind the mul- tiple doors that have now come into sight at each side of her mirrored vision, many stages and scenarios unfold. Visions of medieval rape and torture ani- mate the insides of her spectacles. She is spellbound by the violence witnessed.

Fig. 2.2 Reflect(ion) The Self is aware that Memory’s presence is with her again, eager to reveal secrets, to divulge what took place on these platforms years and centuries ago, as they still do now. Her thoughts appear to distract the gaze away from the mirror. Yet memories of the past are inscribed, forever, onto her body. And un- like the tattoos of popular culture, these images of the flesh are impossible for anyone but her to decipher. She feels the silent presence of a male, an ambigu- ous intrusion into the landscape of her thoughts. He de-stabilizes her earlier prospects within the luxury of this lazy afternoon.

Looking through the many keyholes of history, it is no effort for Memory to follow up the stream of events in real time. Her passion to recall is palpable, as she begins telling the stories, animating them successively.

Fig. 2.3 Eros and Psyche First, Memory points to the delicate body of a woman, asleep, and eloquently tells of the young Beauty who, after much soul searching, came to love the Monster. Here, only the head of Eros (or maybe of the Beast) is presented, while Psyche (or Beauty) is only Body, so not to be recognised. Psyche, cov- ered, is reclining, apparently abandoned. Earlier, the drapes may have con- strained her body, however the animal fur might harbor delicious comfort as well as unbeknown threats.

Fig. 2.4 Dark Light Psyche’s soft and glowing skin appears vulnerable cast amongst the male bod- ies of imagination. She disobeyed the God Eros by attempting to See him. In the blackness, immensely curious, hot lamp in hand - even though she knew too well this act was forbidden. Instantly he has gone, leaving only hollow memories, not even a shadow.

Fig. 2.5 Sade’s Libertines Memory recounts another scene where rich drapes hang heavily. Here, at times, weighty silence is disturbed by the muffled sounds of voices and the rustling of clothes and sheets. The semi darkness reveals glimpses of desire, of soft flesh aroused. For a brief moment, a ray of sunlight penetrates the room, apparently taking by surprise a melee of legs, demands and excesses. From within the comfort of their gentlemen’s coats, the masters of likely deadly plots could be arranging the undressed, with great desire but no pity.

Fig. 2.6 Indiscretions Everywhere, this décor seems to be make-believe. It alludes to vast spaces, yet it is likely still indoors. It features a secret garden, but body perfume is the predominant fragrance. Leaves, flowers, ponds and rocks emerge from the tapestry’s texture. What sounds like birds in the distance, may be the nearby murmured whispers of discreet exchanges, of indecent confidences permeating this sumptuous stage. We are guests in their world and privy to the tension of their intimacy. Indiscretions fill the space as mystery emerges from every one of the ornate motifs. The most arresting of these designs whisper tales of rape, sadism, murders, and vivisections, of castles and dungeons well hidden from sight, and of the Marquis de Sade. Memory recoils and veers away.

Fig. 2.7 Encounters She is brought blindfolded into a dark room. There, her eyes adjust to the light that barely filtrates, revealing a décor reminiscent of libertine times. Male silhouettes look to be framing O’s delicately posed and poised body. On this stage she submits willingly to every possible move her successive encounters might fancy. The scene appears so calm, her smiles soft and loving, how can she accept the violence repeatedly brought onto her? All there seems is heavi- ness and abandon within her body. Her maid, knowingly, captures intruding gazes, party to a complicity that again fires up a tired imagination.

Fig. 2.8 Frankenstein The luxurious décor quickly fades as a menacing scientific experiment, embod- ied into a grotesque and unbridled creature, is made real. The monster shows no mercy to the successive women he encounters, despite the useful roles they are called upon to play for him. He abuses and disposes of them without miss- ing a heartbeat.

Centuries of stories unfold. First, time was not of the essence, then it was drifting slowly by means of the power of the sun or the ticking of mechani- cal clocks. Time now is fast and furious - digital and nuclear, demanding even more, and quickly.

Fig. 2.9 Egos and Wills Memory slides towards yet another stage, tiny and shaky upon which a couple plays. They are sharing arms, breasts, power, fragility and intensity of feel- ings in complete entanglement. Standing so, precariously and mesmerised in a deep and intense eye-to-eye conversation, they are surrounded by an audi- ence of male and female ghosts. The “glamorous legs’” might be shadows of the woman’s past erotic power, and the embossed soft back of a headless man, a memory of her partner’s past youth. But the suggested bodies could all be intruding illusions, dreams of other relationships, adulterous.

Fig. 2.10 Promiscuous Patterns These continuous tales begin to echo loudly in the present. They are solidly re- petitive. The relentless rhyming of words - attraction, domination, submission, imposes its heavy toll on sentences from stories that seem to never end. Is it too late for the woman who wants to protect her heart from a promiscuous pyra- mid of alert bodies? A group encounter is shunned, even though she seems to exult in desire, bursting as if out of her life’s enclosure.

Fig. 2.11 Deeds Stories abound of contradictions and impossible complexities. Compliance was the path the woman had chosen. Pale, defined by a few gentle lines, she was modest, she was as if a gift. The busts of two large predators still loom in dark places, reviving memories of her now vexatious past. Guilty still, she looks afar, to assess the ever-escalating injuries that had been inflicted upon her.

Fig. 2.12 Exit Now the distressed woman walks away, but towards her Self. Has some rem- nant of her presence survived? Despite the fragility of her state, she is making her own way through the overflow of opaque red that has subsumed the sur- roundings, blinding her. She may one day laugh at authority’s power.

Fig. 2.13 The Tear As the gatherings of Memory peak, they reach and blend with the present, telling of continuous hard-core violence that leaves women mutilated, flesh torn and hanging, bodies like emptied vessels, wrecked. Here a coarse canvas cut-out has been traced around the slumped body of a woman in profound distress. Little appears to be left of her, just some skin and hair, not enough ma- terial to sew together in repair, leaving her at the mercy of anyone who might fancy to preside over a complete ruin. A portrait of a woman or of women?

Fig. 2.14 Blindspot Her lips are silent, her eyes now shut, as the last projections fade away from the smooth surface of her skin. The heavy crimson curtain is down. Images imprinted on the still-intact screen of her complexion are mostly garish and ex- cessive, competing in an unrelenting game for attention. No matter how much she protects her Self from such invasions, they permeate her entirely. Looking to a now unpopular history, what is to be learnt?

The stories just heard made such a profound impression on her that she will never know if they were real or dreams played out on some extraordinary dark stage. She ventures the question: how do we recover the Self from the forceful, the strengthening and spreading of an ever-growing planetary web of destruc- tive temptations carrying limitless expectations?

Chapter 3: Self and the Universe

The initial mystery that attends any journey is: how did the traveller reach his starting point in the first place?… I have no maps to hand, no globe of the terrestrial or the celestial spheres… Some step started me toward this point… I must discover it. (Bogan 1933, in Conway 1980, p. 403).

3.1 Time and Space: Then and Now

In Chapter 2, I highlighted the negative consequences of increasingly present violent and degrading images now mass-produced and distributed by the pornography industry.

In this Chapter, I explore the relationship between our perceptions of the private and social self and our understanding of the Universe. This state of consciousness inhabits our everyday lives. At various times and to varying degrees we are driven to recognize and respond to it. As well, it is a primary human response to variously shift between the practical and the philosophic with the change often dependant on shifting personal or global conditions and circumstances. These opposites often work in a complementary manner, balancing the ‘extremes’ of each other. Consequently my exploration of the intimate and its strategic abuse leads me to an ethereal yet no less personal contemplation of the nature of time, space and an individual’s ability to act within in it.

Intriguing comparisons can be made between the non-linear perceptions of time in both the Middle Ages and the present. I came to explore this when I realised that a striking similarity exists between the representations of space and time in the imagery and narratives of the early Middle Ages and understandings of 21st Century physics, that is, their common, inherently

78 non-linear constructions of time. Richard Glasser, in his book Time in French Life and Thought (1972), wrote that people in the early Middle Ages neither had the ability nor felt the need to situate themselves temporally, whether in the past, the present or the future. The perception of ‘then’ and ‘now’ was very vague, the understanding of time, emotional and subjective. “Time had not yet crystallized into an articulate image in human consciousness” (Glasser 1972, p. 12). There was no reference to time in epic poems of the period such as La Chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland, late 11th Century). In this story, Charlemagne was said to be 200 years old.

Then surprisingly, as early as 1230 in Roman de la Rose (see Chapter 2), the author of the first part, Guillaume de Lorris, did attempt to address the notion of time:

… Time, who goes away night and day, without rest and without interruption, who parts from us and steals away so quickly, seems to us to be always stopped at one place, but he never stops there at all. He never ceases passing away. So that no man, even if you ask learned clerks, can tell you what time it is that is present, for before he had thought, three moments would already have passed… (De Lorris 1230, translated by Dahlberg 1971, p. 35)

The invention and circulation of instruments to ‘reliably’ measure time occurred from the 11th to the 17th Century in Western cultures (earlier in the East). This led to the advent and distribution of the first mechanical clocks as well as annual calendars. Public and private life in the later Middle Ages became regulated opportunistically according to the Christian Church’s interpretation of time and life on earth. This clear and powerful concept supplanted what would arguably have been a richer, individual experience of time. These technological and sociological inventions led to the introduction of new words into French and other contemporary languages

79 throughout the following centuries, fulfilling the need to be more prescriptive when describing concepts of space and time.

An example of later Middle Ages poetry referring to time is the Ballade des dames du temps jadis, (Ballad of the Ladies of Times Past) by the famous poet, thief and vagabond, François Villon. In this poem (see last verse below), Villon alludes to women well known in history and mythology.

Prince, do not ask me in the whole week Where they are - neither in this whole year, Lest I bring you back to this refrain: Oh, where are the snows of yesteryear! (Villon 1461, translated by Rossetti 1872, p. 177).

Emerging from my exploration of time and space within these early narratives was an urge to work with sequential images, the building of a narrative or multiple narratives.

3.2 New understandings of Self and the Universe

In the medieval period, sciences such astronomy, alchemy and astrology were inseparable, complementary and legitimate. This meant that at a personal level people could relate with the universe as it was understood by them. For example, the positions of the planets and their movement were considered to have clear and describable repercussions on individual lives. Some argue that they still do today, although clearly our relationship with the cosmos is experienced more at a ‘human kind’ rather than on an individual level. This collective understanding of the universe is necessarily superficial as increasingly specialised science discovers complexity at levels only paralleled by vastness. ‘Certainty’, which was fundamental to a

80 Newtonian understanding of the universe has been replaced by ‘uncertainty’ in today’s physics.

Margaret Wertheim, author of Physics on the Fringe: Smoke Rings, Circlons, and Alternative Theories of Everything (2011), remarks that at present, 99% of the population cannot understand current theories of physics and therefore do not feel ‘at home’ in the cosmos. Wertheim has noticed that because of the ensuing frustration, people feel alienated. Her book features ‘outsider physicists’ who create their own alternative theories. They may conceive of the Universe as a giant machine and fabricate some of its components; examine, pull apart and reassemble, mechanisms for their own understanding. They may devise inventive ways of finding out what atoms are made of and challenge recent Relativity, String, and Quantum theories. While they cannot compete with mainstream science for recognition or resources, their divergent approach makes an unusual contribution to the field (ABC Radio National The Science Show, 2013).

My readings on quantum physics and parallel universes led me to explore 21st Century concepts of ‘space and time’ and their non-linearity. These new concepts in quantum physics furnished me with a structure, conceptually at least, to progress the third series of art works. My life stories, resplendent with contradictions, could unfold within dynamic settings of 2D and 3D images and objects, alternately and simultaneously, with any one stage being at the same time intimate and open, floating, advancing or receding at fast speed, all spinning within the very vast spaces of a multiverse. Scientist and writer Lawrence M. Krauss vividly describes this close connection between us and the universe:

One of the most poetic facts I know about the universe is that essentially every atom in your body was once inside a star that exploded. Moreover, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than did those in your

81 right. We are all, literally, star children, and our bodies made of stardust (Krauss L M 2012, p. 17).

Theoretical physicist, Michio Kaku, in his book Parallel Worlds, refers to Shakespeare’s famous phrase ‘All the world is a stage’ to indicate that “During the Middle Ages, the world was indeed a stage, but it was a small, static one, consisting of a tiny, flat Earth around which the heavenly bodies moved mysteriously in their perfect celestial orbs” (Kaku 2005, p. 22).

Kaku invites the 21st Century reader to visualize universes, and the gateways connecting them. He compares these gateways to stage trapdoors that lead to parallel levels, one on top of the next. He visualizes actors reciting their lines on each of these stages, thinking theirs is the only one. But if they were to accidentally fall through a trapdoor, they would find themselves in an entirely new world with unknown scripts and players (Kaku 2005, p. 112).

Through my readings about parallel universes, I found inspiration in the terminology used to name concepts such as island universes, dimensional portals, exotic matter (also called negative matter, which actually falls upwards), the magic sphere (today called the event horizon), black holes, reminding us of spinning tops (simple objects with complex physics that since childhood have long captivated me) and wormholes, which Lewis Carroll was first to popularise in his 1871 novel Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There:

… how nice it would be if we could only get through into Looking –glass House! …Let’s pretend the glass has got all soft like gauze, so that we can get through. Why, it’s turning into a sort of mist now, I declare!... In another moment Alice was through the glass…” (Carroll 1993, pp. 10-12).

In his book Pale Blue Dot (1994), Carl Sagan describes the Earth as ‘a very small stage’ in a vast cosmic arena. He mentions the need many of us have to

82 situate ourselves within our universe and to achieve a sense of proportion, even resolve, between our everyday life and the immensity of the ‘bigger picture’. This is a sensation that strikes me every time I walk out of the house into a cloudless night sky. I am then reminded of this ‘other reality’. It feels as if I am entering an unlimited Self, not a replica of the same self, reflected back to me by that original confrontation in the mirror.

Referring to images of Earth taken from Space in 1990, Sagan writes:

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives… on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam (1994, p. 8).

In the third series of collages I approach advanced physics at my own level of understanding and in my own way. Through this work, I explore and represent more deeply felt, even profound feelings that can exist within the body/centre/self. It is also about the possibility of creating art images of a secure, balanced place within, that could have healing qualities vis-à-vis the wound of a dissonant self, in relation to one’s public image, potentialities and performance. Now the challenge for the Self is to embrace the most intimate aspects of life within a seemingly ever-expanding Universe.

Naomi Wolf presented her latest findings and ideas on women’s understanding of their own bodies, via Skype at the 2013 Sydney Writers Festival. I was struck by the relevance of her discoveries for my research, particularly her musing on the continuity of the individual and universal self.

Wolf believes that if a woman can silence inner voices that tell her, ‘she is not beautiful enough’, then “... a sense of what I will call, for lack of a better term, a Universal or Divine Feminine can be accessed” (pp. 9-11).

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Female sexual pleasure, rightly understood, is not just about sexuality or just about pleasure. It serves, also, as a medium of female self-knowledge and hopefulness… (Wolf 2012, p. 4) …the mystical or transcendental potential of female sexuality… allows women to connect often, in a unique way, even if just for brief moments, with experiences of a shining, ‘divine’ or greater self… (p. 9)…Typically, in this mind state, one feels, amongst other things, that all is well with oneself and with the universe, and the vexations and limitations of the ego fall away (p. 10).

84 Dossier ‘The Self and the Universe’ Figs 3.1 – 3.13 and associated narrative All artworks: Lucienne Fontannaz, 2012-2014

In this third Dossier, the Self and the Universe, my collages present a woman acquiring a sense of perspective, physical and ethereal, as she becomes aware of her existence within both intimate contexts and the dizzying expanse of the universe.

Stories the Self was invited to witness, have shaken her so deeply and with such severity that the multiple doors behind which they had resonated have become unhinged. She is precipitated, as through a storm, into a universe of a scale she could hardly have imagined. It is as if she was experiencing her own birth again, the trauma and new light of the space beyond.

Surprisingly the strength of gravity hasn’t thrown the many doors to the ground. An opposite force of inert weightlessness has lifted them upwards and they are now floating at random like Stages within Space. Echoes of early crea- tion stories merge with those of medieval science and of present day physics. Fig. 3.1 Eva As she looks sideways and back through time, her eyes catch a corridor view into the Garden of Eden, with a slide of foliage plunging down into the sun- lit clearing in a dense forest. There, appears Eva, whose radiant body is now playfully containing Adam, the one out of whom emerged her original darker and resigned silhouette. All the generations following EVA look to be inscribed in a diagram, from the highest religiosity down to the centre of the earth. The mythical snake is her waving spine, struck through. Forever, she could well be a witness and the subject of power and war, of men and dogma. Rotate the picture to the left, and her name becomes AVE, the Virgin Mother. Rotate from top to bottom and Paradise descends to Hell. Then the Devil’s venom might discharge all over the earth, or so it is told. -,._.., -;' •.!) ""' ' Fig. 3.2 Alchemic Self In these times of foreboding she is nevertheless initiated into the esoteric sym- bols of primal elements, to the sacred transformation of substances and to the secrets of alchemy’s highest quest. Below the alembic, wild flames surge from the earth’s centre. Her body seems to be a conduit for the forces linking the fur- thest points above and below, like the hierarchy of metals. Her heart and that of the sacrificial ram could well beat with the same rhythm, fierce but humble, as the sun, in essence, was their ally at birth. Along space-time symmetries, her mercurial psyche manifests in silver, the moon forever reflecting her ego. She holds the key to hidden doors, as if they were the portals of her future.

Fig. 3.3 Catherine’s Wheel For a moment, Memory’s voice is drowned by the screeching sounds of a powerful medieval wheel, while it recites verses from the Church, speaking of mortal sins, and inadequate confessions, of temptations and soon perhaps, witchcraft. Three churchmen in hierarchical hats appear to be in charge of the gigantic wheel, and to be determining rules for measurements, assessing outcomes, and imposing views and values on their world. Even by this time, female flesh is already condemned to the machinations of the Devil. The wheel could be transformed, at the ready, to become a sometimes softly spoken and sometimes crudely horrific implement for torture. Self only hears silence as she leans more closely into a giant hypnotic kaleidoscope of ever-receding and emerging figures and texts, of doors closing on burning hells and opening into trompe-l’oeil paradises.

Fig. 3.4 Celeste In her gravitas, she comes to understand intimately the rhythm of planets, moons, and stars, even constellations. Made of stardust herself, she is an integral component of their substance, of their workings, their heat, cold and mutations. In this meeting of squares and circles, half globes and miniature systems of design, instruments must assist calculations of celestial dimensions. She grasps these concepts in her mind and heart, so that the entire cosmos becomes her new home.

Fig. 3.5 Zodiac Bodies It looks as if the Mirror reads her body perfectly so presently she sees the twelve constellations that inhabit her. It may be reflecting new depths of un- derstanding that are likely to colour every thought and action for her lifetime. These she could never have perceived in her own individual earth-bound Looking Glass. The symbols of the zodiac become animated, transcending the limits of bodily appearances.

Fig. 3.6 The Quest She is still on a quest and calls upon Memory for guidance. Transported to a very high place, she has negotiated the ways of the deceitful labyrinth that challenges her innermost Self. Even though she is more familiar with the land- scape delimitated by the female bodies, nevertheless, she might fear the dark void surrounding them. What if the silhouettes were to slowly be engulfed in black and she left to find her way, utterly blind?

Fig. 3.7 Mid-heaven Her scale is not human, but her existence could be real. The vital date, time, and place of her coming into existence are meticulously calculated. High at the Mid-Heaven a new standing (and understanding) is registered in this world. The meaning of her original life path. This elevation leaves the two scientists perplexed. At their level, she appears unknowable, unattainable, perhaps an open void. This observatory may become the meeting place of scholars, where by day and night they discuss their findings with frustration and wonderment. They seem to agree that this knowledge could be beneficial for all humankind.

Fig. 3.8 Contract Her well defined, cut-out figure, seems to generate light from within. Oth- erwise she exists in the midst of unknowable darkness. A muscled creature appears, as if in a shadow play, but disappears, inflated and then empty, within an intriguing game of overlaps. She is presenting him with pen and paper and his hand, magnified, might well obey and register agreement given the apex of her seniority.

Fig. 3.9 The Power of Knowing Her spine and head appear to hold formidable powers, generated from her inexhaustible strength. Her inner mechanisms are finely tuned, their past and present understandings of the Universe in accord. Slowly and out of nowhere, magical spheres come forth, starring multitudes of eyes. Their penetrating gazes marvel at the world’s grand scheme and the role of women within it.

Fig. 3.10 Seeing Time That is how she comes face to face with Herself, a bright figure acting under the limelight of a tangible substance and all the time taking command of her new world. Now, her one telescopic eye focuses ahead into an untold distance and her heart, body and soul are ticking in harmony with the renaissance of her time.

Fig. 3.11 Masculine-Feminine Another portal opens. Standing erect like twin statues, her two selves emerge from the dark left side towards the bright right. A ray of light energises the lu- minous presence of an equine hero. At privileged times, in and out of eclipses, these sculptures come to life, breathing and pulsating together. Heraldic, their feet are planted solidly on earth and their heads reach the sky. The twin figures are devising a way to connect the small stage of the Everyday with the vast spaces that engulf us.

Fig. 3.12 Island Universe In this newly found island universe, she is slowly overwhelmed by the infinite softness of exquisite and delicate constellation creatures gliding throughout her entire body as if in deliciously balmy waters. Pleasure fills the millions of cells within her being. Abandoned to their influences, she might know what others do not. Restrictions impinging on her freedom are gently unfastened. They sink to the sea floor like fragments of a ship lost at sea. Such might be the fate of her mask, a final revelation of Herself.

Fig. 3.13 Light years Awakening from these most intimate of feelings, she can reach beyond into vast, violent, solar magnetic fields. Larger than the Sun itself, her new resi- dence is forever expanding, traveling above and beyond at a dizzy speed, further and further through dark matter, reaching, in just some light years… her starting point amongst the origins of worlds.

Conclusion

In all periods of history, the body/self image of women has been manipulated by others, resulting in identity and behavioural issues for the individual female person and for the relationships into which she might enter.

In my research I have argued, along with a growing number of critics and activists, that this is currently an acute situation, even a crisis. A crisis, in terms of the increasing pressure to conform to a narrow, stereotyped and prescriptive image of women’s sexuality put upon girls and women of all ages by the media, fashion and pornography industries. Such an image is systematically negative, certainly limiting in its individual expressiveness, typically degrading and often dangerous to health and well being. Not only is this image a falsehood, it powerfully misrepresents female identity, personality, and sexuality. Further, it does not reflect the strength and breadth of women’s place in history nor does it encourage optimal growth and the expression of potential.

Additionally, the pressure to look and perform as magnets to stereotyped men has the potential to be supercharged within relationship settings. Such images are increasingly accessible, ‘in your face’, as the ubiquitous and sensationally inflationary nature of screen culture so easily permeates then saturates our lives. Amongst and sometimes against this furious tide of images, it is difficult for the individual to grasp an impression of herself.

Most dramatically, this pressure occurs through the unprecedented levels of production and availability of ever increasingly violent pornography made for, and distributed over, the internet. Rather than being a sign of liberation and empowerment of women, the pornography industry is responsible for

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an increasingly widespread crisis in relationships. This is a crisis of physical and psychological exploitation and violence against girls and women, that negatively affects all areas of life, including partner relations and men.

My research has led me to ask the question: how can we, as visual artists, comment on such a notoriously seductive subject as the representation of women in the media, without reproducing the same images we are contesting? In the process of creating my collages, I was aware of the tension, the trap into which a commentator, using pictures, can easily fall. Yet, visual art has a vital role in the addressing of this matter: as we know, images in this domain are highly visceral, affective and effective. Unlike an intellectual discourse through language, they are more likely and readily able to impact on concerned individuals and the general public. So, art is well placed to communicate its message in a powerful way. Like any popular visual media it can take advantage of and capitalize on the attention images of the female body inevitably attracts. However, by addressing the issues, the artist needs to be the circuit breaker, to make a difference. Firstly, from an alternative, more critical perspective. Secondly, by being aware that the image/message formulation has the potential to (mis)represent women. And finally, the combination of experimentation, creativity and originality will provide new images and insights into the body, sexuality and the self. In this way, the compelling power of the attractive body-image can then be of critical service, to counter the mainly shallow, repetitive, stereotypical images of the popular media, which disempowers women and their related narratives.

The alternative visual narrative my work ultimately aspires to reveal a celebratory and empowering representation of the body, gender and sexuality. An extension of this research would be, intuitively and logically, a body of work that focusses on how such positive images could be constructed and what kind of consultation would be necessary to facilitate a project that could be transformative. I propose that such a challenge migrates

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from the confines of the body, leading to a deeper understanding of and for, humanity itself. Finally, as the self is so prescribed by the body, a significant change in body consciousness calls upon the reciprocation of a new awareness of the universe we individually and jointly inhabit.

Paradoxically, the rapid expansion of availability and the intense production of pornography via current media, is occurring at the very time when physicists are reporting upon the extraordinarily rapid expansion of the Universe. Furthermore, the internet is the vehicle by which each of these aspects of life on earth reaches us now, with characteristic ease. This parallelism in time, yet divergence in consciousness, begs to be resolved or at least accommodated, as life and death remain the common motivational themes.

Although working across these fields is immensely personal and individualistic, it can also be seen as unconditional in its universal aspiration. The constant is the desire to imagine, construct and move towards a secure and fruitful future. It is this powerful and empowering realisation of the fundamental relationship between the finest granular parts and the body whole that so clearly resonates with the stardust particles of which we and the entire universe are made.

However, this realisation of place within the immensities of time, space, matter, bodies, feelings, women and the enterprises of men, life on earth can be both meaningful and meaningless. If the enterprise of history provides us with the things we know, then the ever-present challenges us to act in the vacuous now, on behalf of oneself and the future. The speculations and processes of making art in the arenas of Romance and the Erotic, exploitation and subversion, has for me, made more concrete and realisable, my place in this universe.

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