Who is it?
Blås&Knåda 2007
Material: textile, Plexiglass, glass, paper, wood and silicone
In “Who is it?” at Blås&Knåda, Åsa Jungnelius returns to her favourite theme: Consumption as a creator of identity. Who are we, and who do we wish to be in the shopping culture? This includes aspects of gender as well as power and hierarchy.
One of the shop windows displays a row of six tall lipsticks together with a gigantic make-up brush—a cosmetics store. The other window contains Jungnelius’ large, phallic candlesticks Storstakar, the Crystal Lover, Snippan (the vagina) and the Amphoras. Framed in a voluptuous, salmon-pink curtain arrangement, it is a messy window; the objects seamingly gushing towards the spectator in the form of an overly-decorated surface, adorned with bling-bling. A feeling of lust, luxury, and “Dallas”.
But there is also something else: a hint of irregular flesh—in the candles that Jungnelius has made for the XL candlesticks and the chandelier, and in the billowing mouth of a fur-coated amphora. If the expression weren’t so worn, I would call Jungnelius’ stuff… sexy. Sexy for real, I mean. Everyday-sexy. As sexy as it only gets when the real human body is allowed to come forth, in all its sweatiness and hairiness.
Behind the windows, in the fictitious shop, there is nothing but empty boxes. Åsa Jungnelius has promoted shopping as an activity in several exhibitions. This time, she is also talking about the downside of searching for an identity—the feeling of emptiness when the tools at hand are inadequate. The ambivalence that arises from loving to play with certain social attributes, while understanding that they may reinforce the gender power roles. But, Jungnelius’ objects aren’t ambivalent. They are 100% love—pure tributes, whose purpose is to upgrade the female attributes from victims to symbols of power.
Sara Teleman
