Multiple Madonna

2002 / 2007video triptych, mono, 9:00, loop. 3 channel installation, or 3-in-1 HD version.

On each screen of the installation the same process is shown – in three variations: a russian matryoshka, consisting of 10 puppets one in another, is reveald and put back again. Thyes painted the inside of the puppets in red, black and white. In many cultures and religions, the combination of white, red and black had mythic meanings. The text, spoken by a female voice, names elementary things, situations and feelings that may happen to all of us. The regular movement of the hands, the hardedged bright colours and the geometrical order, as well as the spoken sentences give the process a ritual character. MULTIPLE MADONNA and the matryoshka herself are a reminder of the myths of the multiple godess and the generations following her female descendants, as well as of matrilineal cultures.

Annina Zimmermann about Multiple Madonna

A woman contains a woman contains a woman … A woman is potentially daughter, elder and grandchild at the same time. The russian Matryoshka serves as example how past role models and projections on the future nourish female identity and identifies itself as descent as well as dissociated from other generations. At the same time she outlines a female self-image which seems almost an eternity of selfs appearing in secure layers and moultings, protecting and shading each other.

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