Plug In ICA’s current exhibition, Pandora’s Box, includes 10 female artists whose work centres around the body, sexuality and femininity. In a variety of media and tones which range from playful, to ironic, to darkly humorous, to serious, the works question mythical and stereotypical representations of women.

The show is curated by Amanda Cachia, director of Regina’s Dunlop Art Gallery. Individually, the works are very strong. This is a must-see show and an excellent chance for the Winnipeg-bound to view cutting-edge artwork without traveling to New York, where many of these artists are from. Thematically, Cachia’s selection of artwork offers a new take on a classic myth, centering around the body, love and desire from a multitude of ethnic perspectives.

Pandora was the first woman in Greek mythology. Like the Christian Eve, she has been characterized as simultaneously beautiful and innocent, while also being charged with unleashing evil into the world and corrupting humanity irreparably. While these accounts of women and original sin may be mythical, they represent a narrative that has influenced western culture throughout history.

The exhibition brings up numerous questions: What does feminist art look like in the 21st century? How can differences between first and second wave feminism be negotiated? One of the challenges addressed by the exhibition is to display the female body without exploiting it – as the artistic nudes of Renoir to the not-so artistic pinups of Playboy have done. Is this possible?

Ghada Amer is a New York artist born in Cairo, Egypt. Her work is known for its appropriation of erotic and pornographic imagery, which she embroiders onto canvases painted with abstract forms. In “French Kiss,” threads are left playfully dangling, veiling intertwined nude figures. The work references the repression of female sexuality, which as Amer points out, is certainly not limited to Islamic culture. The loose, colourful threads mock abstract expressionist artists such as Jackson Pollock, whose style of painting was often defined as masculine because of its aggressiveness and phallic connotations.

Chitra Ganesh’s work combines contemporary expressions of femininity with South Asian mythologies ranging from classical sources such as Hinduism and Buddhism to Bollywood. Her piece “Inside Pandora #2” represents third-wave feminist concerns with desire, self-pleasure and openness with the body. A nude woman smokes a hookah connected to her vagina, a cheeky image that brings to mind both pin-up girls and the sexualized representations of non-western women by 19th century artists such as Eugene Delacroix.

Canadian artists are also included in the exhibition: Annie Pootoogook’s drawings highlight the contradictions existing in contemporary Inuit society, contrasting tradition with new technology, cultural influences and social issues.
Several paintings by Toronto artist (and Sobey Art Award-nominee) Shary Boyle are also part of Pandora’s Box. Boyle’s illuminated nudes in the series “Bandages” dredge up the confusing emotions accompanying little girls as they become aware of the power within their bodies, and are thrust chest-forward into the world of womanhood.

The selection of artwork in this exhibition incorporates third-wave feminist concepts, such as the reclamation of pornography and erotica by and for women. As Cachia puts it, the metaphor of Pandora suggests “a hopeful return of the repressed feminine.” The diverse backgrounds of the artists are not whitewashed, but rather, are pushed to the forefront, emphasizing the millions of ways in the world to inhabit, embody, and enjoy the female body.
Pandora’s Box reclaims a classic myth for women. The female body is back on centre stage, fully exposed, and this time, hopefully empowered.

Published in Volume 63, Number 28 of The Uniter (June 18, 2009)