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Upbringing by Touch

(c) the Artist
(c) the Artist
(c) the Artist
(c) the Artist
(c) the Artist
(c) the Artist
(c) the Artist
/5
    • Upbringing by Touch
    • Výchova dotykom
  • 1996/2020
  • 5 b&w photographs
  • 36,9 × 39,7 cm
In the photo work “Upbringing by Touch,” Anna Daučíková plays with the malleability of the human body and with her upbringing in a way that draws on her training as a glassblower. In five performative gestures, the artist presses a sheet of glass onto her breasts in a way that makes them disappear, thereby hinting at the anatomical construction of the sexes that does not necessarily represent the inner realm of feelings that might lead to moments of transgender experience. Daučíková short-circuits the changeability involved in glassmaking and especially glassblowing with the shifting of bodily constructions and with forms of representation that go beyond preconceived notions of a dualistic nature. The artist turns into a performer who uses glass to transform the mere existence and gestalt of the human body in order to purvey a different representational mindset. A body that can be touched by a multiplicity of objects and subjects reveals its true ontology only via such processes of movement and interaction. Although glass is known for its transparency, Daučíková employs this material in order to reveal its ability to show and hide forms of reality at the same time. W.S.