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| GREY GARMENT, SELF PORTRAIT, NARCISSUS © christophe canato 2015 |
As
in many societies, religious doctrine is a factor in the policing of hair.
To
mark their status, ladies never cut their hair among the fashionable middle and
upper classes of Victorian society. In contrast, hair became the focal point of
sexual interest and the primary expression of femininity could be seen as
decadence if untied. What was decadent not that long ago now finds its civilian
status as a third gender. Beyond sexuality, what some people consider a vice or
confusion between gender will reveal balanced identities with one of its famous
representatives, talented bearded lady Conchita Wurst.
Narcissus
saw his own
reflection in the water and fell in love with it. From the Greek myth we find the origin of the term
narcissism, a fixation with oneself and
one's physical appearance. Some say that narcissism is the direct expression of
same-sex attraction but can we reduce homosexuality to a single schema, given
the complexity of our human brain. Considering recent introduction to same sex
marriage in our Western world, Canato’s Narcissus is a way to examine ethic and
the relationship between narrative and representation.
Much
like artists might look to religion or myths as a catalyst for their work,
Patricia Piccinini with The Carrier, 2012, uses biology as a narrative to
understand and express the issues of our contemporary world sparking a dialogue
with our desire to homogenise the human body. Inspired by this particular work
of hers, Christophe Canato’s ludic self-portrait with his partner in life,
expressing the challenges of our ability to accept those who don’t meet our
concept of the ideal.
This trilogy serves as an
expression of the membrane between two worlds; that by which we are surrounded,
and another which belongs to the individual, a sort of no man’s land. Intense
of emotion and metaphor, this interior space could be portrayed as circus
freaks with the bearded lady, the giant and the conjoined twins.
