Combining autobiographical elements, archival material, and material research, Mónica Mays (1990) creates sculptures that balance between vulnerability and violence. By making assemblages with found household objects, Mays’ works can be interpreted as body horror, i.e. the body presented in a violent, erotic, or awe-inspiring way. For this she finds inspiration in, among other things, catholic imagery, including the visual overload of the baroque period. In her work, Mays combines stories about magical thinking with representations of the body, and colonial approaches to nature.
At Prospects, Mays is showing four sculptures in conjunction with her research into the silk moth and its “reproductive violence,” as she calls it. The works Without Icons (2023) and Out of heat / heat sink (2023) both have an outer layer created from vellum, a thin type of parchment also made from animal skin. Underneath this semi-transparent skin are the ‘intestines’, made from materials like wool, feathers, and silkworm cocoons. The sculptures have thus become a type of cocoon or container themselves, and can be interpreted as sculptural variations on taxidermy (the practice of stuffing and mounting animals).
Text: Milo Vermeire
Translation from Dutch to English: Marie Louise Schoondergang