Scar Cymbals
Donna Huanca
Zabludowicz Collection 29 SEPTEMBER - 18 DECEMBER 2016 Free
The naked body. An object of many things and commonly a subject of art. However, how often has the physical naked body been the artwork? The very body itself, standing starkers, there in front of you. Even in life drawing where the naked body is the subject, it is not itself the artwork, the artwork appears on the page; a depiction of the naked body, but not the body itself.
Huanca aimed to switch things up: she wanted to use the body itself as the artwork, in order to make us realise our personhood through the skin in which we live in. By exposing the body in all it's glory Huanca aimed to normalise it, as it is frankly bizarre how one still finds themselves uncomfortable whilst viewing the most natural thing in the world.
By coating her models in paint and body stockings, she gets them to walk slowly, hauntingly around the exhibition space, not interacting with any of the viewers, but simply following their routine and then repeating. Viewers can be stood on ground level, face to face with the models, or opt for a safer, less immersive viewing experience from the mezzanine above (a cowards way out). Huanca's ideas are extremely relevant today, as the naked body remains almost taboo, and with campaigns like free the nipple (http://freethenipple.com/) it's about time we start recognising that the naked body is both beautiful, whatever shape or size and should not be forcefully hidden away but exposed and celebrated. Once the models have finished for the day, they hang their used body stocking up in a seperate room of the exhibition, giving the idea of one shedding their skin, leaving behind something which used to engulf them. As you can tell, it's all very deep...
Unfortunately, after I made the 45 minute journey from Clapham to Chalk Farm I discovered that the models were not making an appearance that day, or for the rest of the week due to a heating malfunction. This fact was detrimental to the exhibition as the models were the life and soul, they were the whole point. I mean, fair enough, the place was freezing and I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be standing there naked all day, but they could have at least put a note on the website or SOMETHING.
This therefore explains why I have had to rate the exhibition so low, as all I saw were some empty rooms with paint smears, some used body stockings and some pretty terrible paintings (stick to painting people not canvas, Huanca). Her idea behind the exhibition was great and something I would have thoroughly enjoyed (who doesn't like staring at naked people?) however I didn't get to, thus this exhibition for me was a disappointment - luckily Camden was just down the road.
OVERALL RATING: **
http://www.zabludowiczcollection.com/exhibitions/view/donna-huanca
