The examination of attributions to femininity and corresponding body images is an essential part of this work, but not exclusively so. A rope binds the artist’s naked body, which mutates into an erotic object through its deformation. The artist draws on the Japanese art of bondage, “Shibari”, in which the aesthetics are determined by nudity, the rope, and the knot technique. The power imbalance between the artist and the viewer is reinforced in the work by the fact that the black-and-white photographs—five facsimiles of wet collodion photographs—are packaged in a thermoformed box. This is held together with a rubber band and presented for viewing on a sales display. The simultaneity of deformation, eroticisation, aestheticisation, and monetisation of one’s own body are essential features of the work, which can be understood as a metaphor for today’s online culture.
Unspeakable (I’m Ready) / Giulia Essyad - Photo: Sandra Pointet Courtesy Centre d’édition contemporaine, Geneva
Exhibit
Unspeakable (I’m Ready)
Giulia Essyad (CH)
Ticket //
POSTCITY Ticket, ONE DAY PASS, FESTIVALPASS, FESTIVALPASS+
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Giulia Essyad
Giulia Essyad is a Swiss artist, born in Lausanne in 1992, who lives and works in Geneva. Her work has been exhibited in solo shows in various venues in Switzerland and abroad: INNARDS , CEC, Geneva (2024); Tunnel Vision III, Tunnel Tunnel, Cinema Bellevaux, Lausanne (2023); Chocolate Factory, Cherish, Geneva (2020); Blue Period, Lokal Int, Biel (2020); A Selene Blues, Fri Art Kunsthalle, Friborg (2020); Herstory, Tunnel Tunnel, Lausanne (2016); Faces of the Goddess, Quark, Geneva (2016); Immortality, Forde, Geneva (2015); Hunter, MJ Gallery, Geneva (2014). She has also taken part in numerous group exhibitions: Bourses de la Ville de Genève 2024, Center d’art contemporain, Geneva (2024); Of Bodies in Digital Life, Kunsthaus, Langenthal (2024); Swiss Media Art – Pax Art Awards, HeK, Basel (2024); Swiss Art Awards, BAK, Basel (2023); Jane of All Trades, Schmorévaz, Paris (2023); A performer's misfits, Oxyd, Winterthur (2023); Ja, wir kopieren , Kunstmuseum Solothurn, Solothurn (2023); Prix Mobilière, Art Geneva, Geneva (2023); Claustrophobia Alpina, curated by Varun Kumar, Forde, Geneva (2022); Unbetrauerbar, For, Basel (2022); Biennale de l'Image en Mouvement, CAC, Geneva (2021); Digital October: Making the World, Pays d'Arles (2021); Fotoromanza , Le Commun, Geneva (2021); Contrology , Kunsthaus Riehen, Basel (2021).
Credits
Giulia Essyad, Unspeakable (i’m ready), 2023-2024, 5 facsimiles of wet collodion photographs, print on Plexiglas, lamination, 12 x 10 cm. Each photograph is separately packaged in a thermoformed box, 16 x 12.2 cm. Each edition includes 5 photographs bound by an elastic band. The edition consists of 8 copies, 2 H.C. and 3 e.a., labeled and numbered. Edition of the Centre édition contemporaine, Geneva, 2024.
Presented with the kind support of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.
