-prenez soin de vos seins (take care of your breasts)-3 manipulated pics of my mirror-image , between my breast cancer surgeries.
With "Prenez soin de vous,"-Take care of yourself-, French artist Sophie Calle makes public what is commonly regarded to be private and turns it into a work of art, as she often does. Her partner ended their relation by email, "take care of yourself," being the last sentence of the breakup letter. I stumbled on the book cover picture while I was looking at her exhibit-announcement in Brussels, BOZAR this summer. When I saw it, I didn't know the context/project it was a part of and I interpreted/looked at it from within my mind-frame, working around cancer, "take care of yourself," being an important message... I even got a bit upset, because a breakup compared to two cancers, is small stuff. After the big C, you don't sweat the small stuff, let alone make an art-project around it (some of us even get abandoned while having cancer)... I guess I took it a bit too seriously ;-) Makes sense? But also, interesting. A picture/a work of art, is no doubt always perceived from within the private context of the beholder. Anyway, I lightened up and decided to make a piece triggered by that experience. Here's "Prenez soin de vos seins," -Take Care of your Breasts.- It's a triptych, the message is important, publicly, but it's also a highly personal&private ;-) piece. It's my homage to my body that once was.
4 comments:
I remember when I was younger how attitudes were so different and it wasn't quite understood what it must have felt for a woman to lose a part of her body. Even I can only guess that it would cause a whole paradigm shift (physically, mentally, emotionally etc), and grief.
I appreciate seeing work like this and I do remember the message.
I do, I take care of my boobies.
Thx Jafagirl!:) You did my heart a heap of good with this! xoxo
A wonderfully important work. Seems like a blend of real/unreal because you are using a photo but emphasizing the graininess. The addition of the message gives us the viewer a moment of "OH!" Very thought provoking. I like the vertical stack of the triptych. Have you printed it yet? I could see it having even more impact if the scale of each panel was life-size. Great post.
Thx Bill!:) I definitely want them printed life-size, yes!
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