Sex Shells
In collaboration with VU University Amsterdam
Sex Shells
In collaboration with VU University Amsterdam
Hormone therapy, artificial insemination, assisted reproduction, sperm banks and genital modification all contribute to changing the role that gender and sexual fluidity play in society. Recent medical advances, combined with the increased use of gender-fluid identities in popular culture, enables the modern human to envision a reality that extends beyond the traditional confines of one’s biological sex. This project is a synthesis between a modern-day temple and laboratory. It is an immersive installation chronicling the complex and transgressive capabilities of hermaphroditic fluidity.
Sex Shells | Photo: Boudewijn Bollmann
Sex Shells | Photo: Boudewijn Bollmann
Sex Shells | Photo: Boudewijn Bollmann
Sex Shells | Photo: Boudewijn Bollmann
Throughout human civilization, animal gods have functioned as metaphors. Abstract deities used to personify the vast complexity of the human psyche. Sex Shells takes the grand mythological, historical and visual traditions of hermaphroditism in the ancient religious world as its starting point with the snail taking center stage as a divine icon of gender and sexual fluidity.
Sex Shells is composed of an integrated series of works that alternate between visual metaphor and biological fact, taking the form of a modern-day mythical temple dedicated to the celebration of contemporary hermaphroditism. This visual compendium explores the sublime nature of gender expression while drawing parallels to the sexual hermaphroditic nature of snails.
Upon entering, visitors are met by a large moving, video installation, titled ‘The Gastropoda Mysteries’. The name alludes to an ancient Dionysian cult from the Roman empire that provided sexual liberation to many marginalized members of Roman society through its unconventional rituals.
The process of snail courtship and copulation is long, intense and often involves violent physical interactions. This, in addition to the exchange of chemicals and bodily fluids, plays an essential role in determining the reproductive role of the snail and its partner. This work is aimed to question the visual complexities of gender and sexual expression through the scientific lens of sexual selection and genetic determinism.
Visitors are requested to take off their shoes upon entering the temple space. Here, they will walk onto an intricate carpet that visualizes the complex and malleable nature of hermaphroditic sexuality. In the center of the space stands a rectangular mirroring aquarium, carrying the snails in action, not only reproducing but eating, swimming and interacting with one another.
But by looking inside to satisfy their curiosity about the sexual life of hermaphrodites, visitors are also confronted with seeing themselves. This point of the installation is aimed to make visitors reflect upon their own sexuality, the role of gender in their lives and their place and role within human civilization and society.
What does sexuality really mean? Is reproduction for procreation or pleasure? Should breeding be natural or artificial? And what does this mean in the grand scale of human development? This project aims to address these questions and ask what we consider as (positive) human achievements from both a scientific and artistic perspective through the lens of sexual procreation.