Catwalk and cutting: beauty and the beast in a London gallery
Daniel Nelson
Image by Aida Silvestri
Aida Silvestri, Type II C. From Unsterile Clinic, 2015
The juxtaposition of the two exhibitions – the catwalk and the cutting – inevitably provoke the thought: is this all about men?
The photos in Miss Black & Beautiful feature women with large Afros, heels and bathing costumes and, in the words of the curator of both exhibitions, Renee Mussai, are imbued with “a certain joie de vivre”. Conversely, lust for life are the exact target of the practices skewered in the sculptural portraits and interviews in Unsterile Clinic, which reflect pain, anxiety and anger.
The Black is Beautiful images are by the now dead photographer and entrepreneur Raphael Albert who from the 1960s to the ‘90s promoted and chronicled the “pageants’ in Britain.
Mussai’s description of the exhibition is expressed in po-faced jargon (“a particular and multifaceted opportunity to create black femininity”, “a widely contested and ambiguous cultural performance”, “a distinct space for self-fashioning”) but although Albert obviously enjoyed himself and there’s a sense of fun in many of the pictures, you can’t help wondering whether you are looking at pleasure or exploitation, at the assertion of black beauty or the copying of convention.
Ponder the ambiguities and enjoy the pictures before you move upstairs to the Aida Silvestri’s exhibition, where ambiguity and enjoyment are not the point.
This is advocacy at its most urgent: “The aim of the project is to raise awareness in the hope that women, young girls and children who may not realise the severity of the kind of FGM type they have, are encouraged to attend early screening processes before an emergency occurs. I also hope that this project empowers medical staff to have the courage to speak openly, and the visual tools necessary, when examining women affected by FGM.”
No toothy smiles and alluring curves here: sex is contorted and controlled, rather than commercialised. It’s harrowing but important.
“I was told this ritual would make me a woman.”
“The pain was so strong I felt it from my chest down to my toes.”
“I was told that I was becoming a woman.
I was told that it would keep me pure until marriage.
I was told that men would reject me if I were not cut.”
“I was angry, I felt unworthy.”
“My mind will always be fragile and affected by FGM.”
“I want to make sure FGM never happens again, worldwide.”
“I had three FGM procedures in my life.
During circumcision.
During my first intercourse.
During labour.”
“I felt like a piece of raw meat.”
“Restitch or your husband will leave you for a younger women.”
“I was pinned down like an animal.
An animal ready to be slaughtered.”
* Miss Black & Beautiful and Unsterile Clinic are at Autograph ABP, Rivington Place, London EC2, free, until 24 September and 17 September respectively. Info: 7749 1240/ www.autograph-abp.co.uk/exhibitions
+ 16 July, artist and curator-led tour, 3-4.30pm, free
+ 22 July, Health, advocacy and art, panel discussion with Hilary Burrage, Deqa Dirie, Aissa Edon, Emma Boyd, Dianna Nammi and Aida Silvestri , 6-8.30pm, free
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