Tiāmat

Installation view at TACA Studio, Palma di Maiorca, Spain, 2023,
work list: "The face of the waters" fountain piece, ceramic glazed, water pump, glass tank, silicon pipes
"Metra" ink drawing on textile cotton bedsheet, ceramics glazed, cotton treads.
drawings: “Birth with tears”, "Weeping woman”, “Flesh and water”, ink ad watercolour on paper

The Face of the Waters

Fountain piece

The sculpture is composed of two ceramic pieces, a female bust hung on the wall, from which water flows into a transparent glass basin that contains another sculpture.
The breast and the water flowing from it symbolise fertility and the uterine water that surrounds a growing fetus in the womb.
This image referenced also to the mythological figure of Tiamat, who is often depicted as a primordial sea goddess with breasts that symbolise her life-giving power. The water flowing from the breasts into the basin represents the ongoing process of creation and renewal that is embodied also in the myth of Tiamat.
The sculpture inside te basin depicts two heads, one representing the mother and the other the baby. This piece depicts the way my daughter used to fall asleep with her hands inside my mouth, and the feeling I had about those moments.
While some may find this behavior disgusting, this is a way for baby to seek comfort and security from their mothers. For me, It felt as she wanted to enter my body once and become a part of me again. The sculpture elicits a mixed feeling of intimacy and creepiness because one figure appears to either consume or spit the other out of her mouth. This feeling can be also interpreted as the overwhelming relationship between mother and child, this bond can shape and transform both individuals.
The symbol of water inside the basin evokes the image of uterine water, the life-giving fluid that sustains a developing fetus. In the myth of Tiamat, the goddess is associated with the primordial waters from which all life sprang. Her body represents the chaotic forces of creation, and her womb symbolises the transformative power of birth

Metra

Textile piece

This is a textile piece made by a bedsheet hung on the wall, drawn with ink and adorned with ceramic pieces.
The bedsheet is part of my mother's "corredo" or "dote", a tradition in Southern Italy where women are given a set of linens when they get married. My mother passed down the bedsheet to me, although I never used it in the traditional sense since I never got married. Despite this, the bedsheet it is a reminder of the cultural heritage of my family and also carries a lot of other symbols such as rest, sexuality and intimacy.
The upper part of the drawing represents a large uterus with two ovaries. On the lower part, connected to the uterus there is a pelvis with a vagina as in the act of giving birth, and two crouched legs. This drawing represents the metamorphosis of my life through giving birth and the mixed feeling related to this experience and the previous experience of breast cancer.
There are 3 ceramic masks which interact with the drawing and symbolically depict myself during this process, that is way, the two at the side are titled "Before" ad "After", while the one in the middle is titled "Tiāmat", ad for me it represents the face of the Goddess.
The masks are placed one at each side of the textile piece(on top of each ovaries) and one on top of the uterus (at the center of the piece). The masks, also in this case, aim to show the duality of the female seen as a monster in its ability to generate life as well as to interrupt it, if we think of abortion and infanticide.

Overall, the pieces explore the themes of birth and creation in relation to the
mythology of Tiamat, as well as my personal story of pregnancy after breast cancer. These works reflect the thoughts I have had over the past two years since experiencing this significant life-changing events.

Tiāmat was a goddess of Babylonian mythology, she was the personification of the primordial sea, representing chaos and the feminine principle.
According to the Enuma Elish, an ancient Babylonian epic, Tiamat was a deity who created the universe with her consort, Apsu. However, when their children, the younger gods, became too disruptive, Apsu planned to destroy them. Tiāmat defeated Apsu joining forces with her son, Kingu, but was defeated by the god Marduk who used the winds to fill her with
air, making her unable to move. He then shot an arrow into her mouth, splitting her body in two and creating the heavens and the earth from the two halves.

"One way to view the story is through the lens of gender and power dynamics, specifically in relation to women who give birth and the way they have been historically subjugated. Tiamat is often seen as a symbol of the creative power of the feminine, the force that gives birth to everything in the universe. However, her defeat by Marduk, a male deity,
represents the triumph of patriarchal order over the chaotic and creative energies of the feminine. This can be seen as a metaphor for the way that women who give birth, while revered for their life-giving power, are also often made subordinate to men and subjected to patriarchal structures of control."
(Text from: Chapter 5 Birth, Third part Mothers, Author: Jude Ellison Sady Doyle “The Monstrous Feminine, Patriarchy and the Fear of Women” TLON editions, 2019) (Italian edition translated by automatic translator).

The woman is seen as something frightening because her ability to generate life scares men, since they cannot control this aspect which is typically feminine. However, the power to create life has always been used to marginalise women in society rather than exalt their potential for strength and capability. This ability has also been seen by women themselves as a limit and a stigma under the influence of the patriarchal distortion of society, to the point that women do not have or desire children anymore, otherwise they feel limited and inferior to others.
This is a dangerous distortion because it prevents women from realising their original and profound power.
Throughout history, women have been demonised and portrayed as monstrous in order to control and subjugate them. The piece highlights the ways in which societal norms and patriarchal systems have often portrayed the feminine as dangerous or abnormal, and how this portrayal has been used to control and oppress women.
It is a common interpretation of the use of monsters in the representation of femininity. In many cultures, women who deviate from societal norms or who hold positions of power have been labeled as witches, sirens, or other monstrous creatures. These labels have been used to justify violence and discrimination against women, who are seen as a threat to the established order and to control them.
This theme is closely tied to the mythology of Tiāmat, who is often depicted as a monstrous, serpentine figure with immense power and destructive potential. In some interpretations of the myth, Tiamat is seen as representing the primal chaos of the universe, a force that is both creative and destructive, defeated by a men who brings back the stability.

The pieces in the the exhibition challenges the traditional view of femininity as passive or submissive, and the traditional view of maternity and the process of giving birth as something dreamy and romantic. It invites instead the viewers to embrace the full spectrum, including features and aspects that may be considered daunting or even threatening.
In this sense, the exhibition can be seen as a celebration of the power of femininity, and a rejection of the restrictive gender norms that have historically been imposed upon women.