They Used to Wear Pearls
They Used to Wear Human Hair
They Used to Wear Eyelashes
2021
Photograph, framed pigment print
70cm x 48cm
49cm x 41cm
50cm x 44xm
The photography series examines the combination of beauty and the grotesque by using embellishments from the 18th-century anatomical Venus on a contemporary neutral anatomical model. It explores the strange historical practice of decorating and eroticizing an anatomical teaching model.
Anatomical Venus wax figures were first made in Italy during the 18th century. These figures were used to teach anatomy to the general public and were moulded in forms inspired by portrayals of Venus in the visual arts. They were beautiful, passive figures, placed lying on silk. Their beauty was intended to distract people from thoughts of death while learning anatomy.
They were decorated with pearls, eyelashes, glass eyes, and real human hair. They are reminiscent of memento mori objects that merge life and death.
The glow on the anatomical model comes from a special lens that imitates the lenses of early photographic cameras.