Emotions, stress, and trauma are experts at messing with your insides. In much the same way as, according to some, the heart is ruled by the stomach, sorrow can wreak havoc on your intestines. Shown at Prospects, the installation Settle/Anatomize (2023) by Emmie Liebregts (1996) represents an intestinal shape serving as a place of storage — this sculpture made from textiles is more about storing feelings than about digesting food.
Liebregts is interested in psychosomatic medicine, a field studying physical symptoms caused by mental disorders. In the past, the artist often used her own body to explore and visualize psychosomatic symptoms, for instance during performances. More recently, however, her practice has shifted to a more research-based approach, zooming in on the history of psychosomatic medicine within the professional field of psychology. Liebregts also applied this broader orientation to the work Settle/Anatomize. “I no longer need to use my own body to create work that still incites physical involvement.”
The chosen material, a polar-fleece-like fabric, is very soft while the physical construction is somewhat angular. In this way the artist is playing with feelings of safety and false security. This is another recurring theme in Liebregts’ work. The audience is initially drawn in by the work’s soft shapes and pleasant colours, but on closer inspection becomes activated by the uncomfortable or alienating elements incorporated in it. In an immersive way, Liebregts is thus presenting the intestinal shape as “a physical place where unprocessed emotions and traumas are left to linger”.
Text: Milo Vermeire
Translation from Dutch to English: Marie Louise Schoondergang