Featured image: SLRoss playing behind the projection. Photo credit: L Leewis
3 Dec 2021
This exhibition was described to me by a colleague as the most emotive exhibition he’d ever been to and still had no clue what it was about. So yuh know who had to check it out, right? That’s how my exhibition buddy and I ended up at Tate Britain for Heather Phillipson’s Blowtorching the Bitten Peach exhibition.
Room 1
We walked into a long, wide high-ceilinged room that extended so far that you’d be forgiven for thinking it an elaborate oversized hallway. This meant that Blowtorching the Bitten Peach had two ‘ends’, and we entered the end that featured a celestial realm. Clouds cushioned us on either side from floor to ceiling and made us look twice at them because we swore they were moving… or maybe not? Oversized metal insects, which looked like they’d been birthed from a metal scrap-yard dangled from the ceiling near the peach and in the clouds way above our heads.
Watching the projection at Blowtorching the Bitten Peach, Tate Britain, Dec2021
In front of us a ceiling to floor projection of an enlarged peach, buns prominently displayed, descended from far above a horizon (?) into water? Lava? The heat of the blowtorch? And melted or disappeared under the surface of the ‘liquid’. We posed a bit, took a few pics of ourselves in front of the projection and then realised we could take a few pics behind the projection as well where we could see the silhouette of others who were posing with the rising and falling peach. I confess, I spent way too long trying to mirror the poses of the girl who was currently checking the peach projection out. But I digress, back to the art!
The next installation was a rusty galvanized metal kiln, of sorts, that made us think of an alcohol still. Inside large iron highly combustible gas cannisters dangled from the ceiling over what looked like the equivalent of hot coals. Amidst the ‘coals’ were almost incandescent white eggs(?) that were the size of an America football. They seemed almost randomly scattered but equally spaced out across the floor of the still as the large gas tank ‘baby mobile’ above them slowly swung, clanked and echoed throughout the kiln. The video below was taken through a gap near the base of the kiln where the galvanize had been peeled back a little. The proper entrance to the still was marked by an open rusty galvanized door with a large screen visual of what appeared to be digitised, recoloured, high contrast, squirming maggots magnified by a gazillion. (Gazillion being a highly technical term, of course!)
Cloud wall close-up at Blowtorching the Bitten Peach, Tate Britain, Dec 2021‘The Still’ at Blowtorching the Bitten Peach, Tate Britain, Dec2021Inside the ‘still’ at Blowtorching the Bitten Peach, Tate Britain, Dec2021Blowtorching the Bitten Peach, Tate Britain, Dec2021
Meanwhile, in the clouds, rib cages, skeletons, and geese were flying by. There was a torpedo broken in half with each half haloed and buried in a giant rusty iron bucket of sand. Confused? So were we until we started talking it out. Click play on the audio clips below to hear us work out our theories and thoughts about this scene.
By the way, I looked up the mythology of Zeus turning into a goose and discovered, not Ariadne, but Leda and the Swan (BBC News Service, 2018). Turns out there are several versions of this story, many stating that Zeus seduced or raped Leda, and in some versions it’s Nemesis he chases, not Leda. In art however, Leda is often portrayed as cosying up to Zeus the swan, apparently on the same night she sleeps with and is impregnated by her husband. On the flip side, Nemesis tries everything to avoid Zeus’ advances – turns into a series of different creatures, each time Zeus turning into something more predatory in an attempt to overpower her. Finally when she turns into a goose, he turns into a swan, catches her and rapes her (Cartwright, 2017). There are so many problems with this story and the way the women (the peaches) are portrayed then ‘bitten’ (so often against their will!). I do not for a second think that women are always blameless saints who don’t fancy a good ‘bite’, but I am so completely fed-up with history (usually written by men) painting women as wanton seducers, unfaithful, easily seduced and/or duped. Either let Leda own her sexuality and want Zeus as a man, or admit he raped a married woman because he couldn’t resist her beautiful ‘peach’. Leda cannot simultaneously be the siren and the victim. Meanwhile, Nemesis never gets ‘seduced’ because honestly, what woman goes through all that shapeshifting to avoid a man if she really wants him? Puh-leeeez! So I think it’s safe to assume that Leda/Nemesis is the goose in this celestial room who has attracted these insects and maggots – men like Zeus who would rather avoid accountability by blaming women for their poor choices. Sorry (not sorry) for the rant but I’ve known too many men like Zeus.
Room 2
An archway and some pillars indicated that were entering the next room. Here, the room glowed hot pink, almost red instead of blue while four metal scrap-yard cows drank from, or maybe filled up(?), a pool of…. Water? Oil? Stagnant Liquid?
At home, while writing up this review and researching Zeus and the goose, I discovered that Zeus turned into a bull to kidnap Europa (Brouwers, 2019). This <insert expletives here>! Lemme hear anyone of y’all say, “but she had 3 children for him, she probably grew to love him” and I will bless you with the bloodiest, most vicious cut-eye (Caribbean version of the side-eye). Who starts a relationship by kidnapping you and taking you where your family can’t find you? That’s not a relationship, that’s a nightmare!
Anyway, rants about Zeus (and all the men who subscribe to his modus operandi) aside, see the photo below for a visual of the ‘cow room’. There is no audio clip because we didn’t quite crack the meaning of this room to our satisfaction.
‘Drinking Cows’ at Blowtorching the Bitten Peach, Tate Britain, Dec 2021
The next archway was the largest feat of papier-mâché I’d ever seen and beyond it, a warm orange glow beckoned me. I went! How’d they know that’s one of my favourite colours?
Stacey in the giant papier-mâché archway to Room 3
Room 3
As we moved into the room the orange glow gave way to red and the papier-mâché archway gave way to an enormous papier- mâché creature. The newspaper pages covering it were not dedicated to anyone topic but a quick scan suggested that the newsprint used were primarily from the sources of the most sensationalist, skewed ‘news’ providers in print e.g. The Sun, The Mirror, Metro, The Daily Mail and so on. These are the papers I associate most with applying intense social pressure to conform to what they consider societal norms. I have witnessed their ability to report selected facts, presented in ways that push the buttons of different segments of society to shame, decry, depose, destroy, attack and persecute an intended target. Similarly, I have seen them laud and praise and uplift people they deem worthy. May those same bastions of greatness never put a foot wrong, they will be dragged off their pedestals with equal fervour. All of this is to say that I think the choice of newsprint was deliberate and when we got to the other side of the room and looked back at this massive papier-mâché giant, it felt even more deliberate and apt. Of course, that might all be in my head, or… I might be right on the money.
Anyway, in this red/orange room the cloud walls were back… or were they? It didn’t seem quite as cloudy as before but the incandescent eggs from the kiln were now dangling from the ceiling along with some speakers that played deep warped sounds… maybe? More torpedo framed the archway, but this time they sat in phallic splendour in the midst of papier-mâché flower petals over rusty metal vats of sand. And it was only when we viewed the room from this ‘phallic’ end (see image below) that the meaning of the room came together in our minds. Click play on the audio clip below to hear our musings about this room.
“The Womb Room” at Blowtorching the Bitten Peach, Tate Britain, Dec 2021
Mutated Femininity – SLRoss & LLeewis
In hindsight, I think we entered the exhibition from the wrong end (assuming there was a right end?) If we’d entered from the red room, we’d have seen the full effect of the misogyny that thrives today, the light of femininity trapped in this warped body of expectations that forms a hard shell over the entrapped female essence (papier-mache mutant). The middle room with the metal cows could suggest how much of a woman is syphoned off to supply others with energy, fuel, life to move forward while she is often stuck in one spot just emptying herself out to support the advancement of others. I reason that they must be filling the pool because it was nearly overflowing, not nearly depleted. Of course, if those cows are really bulls then the above meaning doesn’t apply. Bulls do not traditionally drain themselves to fill the pool for others. Finally, after breaking free of the red womb room and the pink suck-you-dry room, we now fly into the clouds in the celestial room. Here, the obsession with female sexuality over-ripens and draws flies, maggots and Gods who turn themselves into geese and bulls to rape or kidnap women. The broken torpedo <insert wicked grin here> buried in sand, the eggs sitting in heat, the peach that sinks into the ocean/lava/liquid but rises again to become the sun… this all feels slightly more triumphant than the last two rooms. The reign of terror of the penis (torpedo) is broken and neutralised (in sand)? New life (each egg) is being nurtured even within this combustible explosive situation (the still) so that even while female genitalia, sexuality and eroticism (the peach) are being warped by male/societal obsession (insects & maggots), still female energy rises every time to continue bringing light and life (peach as the sun). Or maybe it’s all wishful thinking on my part?
In hindsight, I think we entered the exhibition from the wrong end (assuming there was a right end?) If we’d entered from the red room, we’d have seen the full effect of the misogyny that thrives today, the light of femininity trapped in this warped body of expectations that forms a hard shell over the entrapped female essence (papier-mache mutant). The middle room with the metal cows could suggest how much of a woman is syphoned off to supply others with energy, fuel, life to move forward while she is often stuck in one spot just emptying herself out to support the advancement of others. I reason that they must be filling the pool because it was nearly overflowing, not nearly depleted. Of course, if those cows are really bulls then the above meaning doesn’t apply. Bulls do not traditionally drain themselves to fill the pool for others. Finally, after breaking free of the red womb room and the pink suck-you-dry room, we now fly into the clouds in the celestial room. Here, the obsession with female sexuality over-ripens and draws flies, maggots and Gods who turn themselves into swans and bulls to rape or kidnap women. The broken torpedo <insert wicked grin here> buried in sand, the eggs sitting in heat, the peach that sinks into the ocean/lava/liquid but rises again to become the sun… this all feels slightly more triumphant than the last two rooms. The reign of terror of the penis (torpedo) is broken and neutralised (in sand)? New life (each egg) is being nurtured even within this combustible explosive situation (the still) so that even while female genitalia, sexuality and eroticism (the peach) are being warped by male/societal obsession (insects & maggots), still female energy rises every time to continue bringing light and life (peach as the sun).
Or maybe it’s all wishful thinking on my part?
In Summary
Thoughts about The Space
Atmospheric Vast Womb-like Surreal. I absolutely loved that it was one long wide corridor that you could enter at any point and flow through. Very rhizomatic! Used the entire space right up to the ridiculously high ceilings Immersed the audience in the art. You didn’t just watch it, you walked into it, literally!
Thoughts about the Collection
Not an artwork label in sight! 3 giant multi-media multi-faceted works, each inextricably linked and seamless in their flow between each other. Other worldly Emotionally charged (from my position as a woman anyway) Thought-provoking Interesting use of symbolism but how many would miss it if they didn’t know? e.g. Greek mythology
My User Journey Experience
Blowtorching the Bitten Peach made me feel: Fascinated Curious Confused. (Where do I start? I don’t get it?) Adventurous (I was exploring and investigating like Colombo!) Playful (e.g. taking selfies pretending to bite the peach) Overall I think I felt like Alice in Wonderland. I fell down this rabbit hole into a world where the curtain has been pealed back on misogyny and, to quote Gayatri Spivak, “the subaltern speaks”. So instead of being given the dominant male narrative, the female is painting the picture without using a word… makes me think of Carnival!
Take Away Feelings
At the time I was just very excited about the exhibition experience so I left on a high BUT thinking about it now I find I have a lot of opposing feelings e.g. – rage and caring – curiosity and familiarity – confusion and clarity – horrified and unsurprised. Also sorrow and disappointment, though these two are not opposed to each other.
Take Away Thoughts
Would I have enjoyed this as much if I didn’t have an exhibition buddy to delve into it so deeply? What a pretty exhibition about a horrifying topic, and somehow the beauty does not deplete the horror. This exhibition felt like an otherworldy experience, yet it felt familiar… like if I only needed to decode the symbols and then I would immediately know as much as a native in this ‘land’.
Protected: Ideas from Exhibition Reconnaissance
Featured image: SLRoss playing behind the projection. Photo credit: L Leewis
3 Dec 2021
This exhibition was described to me by a colleague as the most emotive exhibition he’d ever been to and still had no clue what it was about. So yuh know who had to check it out, right? That’s how my exhibition buddy and I ended up at Tate Britain for Heather Phillipson’s Blowtorching the Bitten Peach exhibition.
Room 1
We walked into a long, wide high-ceilinged room that extended so far that you’d be forgiven for thinking it an elaborate oversized hallway. This meant that Blowtorching the Bitten Peach had two ‘ends’, and we entered the end that featured a celestial realm. Clouds cushioned us on either side from floor to ceiling and made us look twice at them because we swore they were moving… or maybe not? Oversized metal insects, which looked like they’d been birthed from a metal scrap-yard dangled from the ceiling near the peach and in the clouds way above our heads.
In front of us a ceiling to floor projection of an enlarged peach, buns prominently displayed, descended from far above a horizon (?) into water? Lava? The heat of the blowtorch? And melted or disappeared under the surface of the ‘liquid’. We posed a bit, took a few pics of ourselves in front of the projection and then realised we could take a few pics behind the projection as well where we could see the silhouette of others who were posing with the rising and falling peach. I confess, I spent way too long trying to mirror the poses of the girl who was currently checking the peach projection out. But I digress, back to the art!
The next installation was a rusty galvanized metal kiln, of sorts, that made us think of an alcohol still. Inside large iron highly combustible gas cannisters dangled from the ceiling over what looked like the equivalent of hot coals. Amidst the ‘coals’ were almost incandescent white eggs(?) that were the size of an America football. They seemed almost randomly scattered but equally spaced out across the floor of the still as the large gas tank ‘baby mobile’ above them slowly swung, clanked and echoed throughout the kiln. The video below was taken through a gap near the base of the kiln where the galvanize had been peeled back a little. The proper entrance to the still was marked by an open rusty galvanized door with a large screen visual of what appeared to be digitised, recoloured, high contrast, squirming maggots magnified by a gazillion. (Gazillion being a highly technical term, of course!)
Meanwhile, in the clouds, rib cages, skeletons, and geese were flying by. There was a torpedo broken in half with each half haloed and buried in a giant rusty iron bucket of sand. Confused? So were we until we started talking it out. Click play on the audio clips below to hear us work out our theories and thoughts about this scene.
By the way, I looked up the mythology of Zeus turning into a goose and discovered, not Ariadne, but Leda and the Swan (BBC News Service, 2018). Turns out there are several versions of this story, many stating that Zeus seduced or raped Leda, and in some versions it’s Nemesis he chases, not Leda. In art however, Leda is often portrayed as cosying up to Zeus the swan, apparently on the same night she sleeps with and is impregnated by her husband. On the flip side, Nemesis tries everything to avoid Zeus’ advances – turns into a series of different creatures, each time Zeus turning into something more predatory in an attempt to overpower her. Finally when she turns into a goose, he turns into a swan, catches her and rapes her (Cartwright, 2017). There are so many problems with this story and the way the women (the peaches) are portrayed then ‘bitten’ (so often against their will!). I do not for a second think that women are always blameless saints who don’t fancy a good ‘bite’, but I am so completely fed-up with history (usually written by men) painting women as wanton seducers, unfaithful, easily seduced and/or duped. Either let Leda own her sexuality and want Zeus as a man, or admit he raped a married woman because he couldn’t resist her beautiful ‘peach’. Leda cannot simultaneously be the siren and the victim. Meanwhile, Nemesis never gets ‘seduced’ because honestly, what woman goes through all that shapeshifting to avoid a man if she really wants him? Puh-leeeez! So I think it’s safe to assume that Leda/Nemesis is the goose in this celestial room who has attracted these insects and maggots – men like Zeus who would rather avoid accountability by blaming women for their poor choices. Sorry (not sorry) for the rant but I’ve known too many men like Zeus.
Room 2
An archway and some pillars indicated that were entering the next room. Here, the room glowed hot pink, almost red instead of blue while four metal scrap-yard cows drank from, or maybe filled up(?), a pool of…. Water? Oil? Stagnant Liquid?
At home, while writing up this review and researching Zeus and the goose, I discovered that Zeus turned into a bull to kidnap Europa (Brouwers, 2019). This <insert expletives here>! Lemme hear anyone of y’all say, “but she had 3 children for him, she probably grew to love him” and I will bless you with the bloodiest, most vicious cut-eye (Caribbean version of the side-eye). Who starts a relationship by kidnapping you and taking you where your family can’t find you? That’s not a relationship, that’s a nightmare!
Anyway, rants about Zeus (and all the men who subscribe to his modus operandi) aside, see the photo below for a visual of the ‘cow room’. There is no audio clip because we didn’t quite crack the meaning of this room to our satisfaction.
The next archway was the largest feat of papier-mâché I’d ever seen and beyond it, a warm orange glow beckoned me. I went! How’d they know that’s one of my favourite colours?
Room 3
As we moved into the room the orange glow gave way to red and the papier-mâché archway gave way to an enormous papier- mâché creature. The newspaper pages covering it were not dedicated to anyone topic but a quick scan suggested that the newsprint used were primarily from the sources of the most sensationalist, skewed ‘news’ providers in print e.g. The Sun, The Mirror, Metro, The Daily Mail and so on. These are the papers I associate most with applying intense social pressure to conform to what they consider societal norms. I have witnessed their ability to report selected facts, presented in ways that push the buttons of different segments of society to shame, decry, depose, destroy, attack and persecute an intended target. Similarly, I have seen them laud and praise and uplift people they deem worthy. May those same bastions of greatness never put a foot wrong, they will be dragged off their pedestals with equal fervour. All of this is to say that I think the choice of newsprint was deliberate and when we got to the other side of the room and looked back at this massive papier-mâché giant, it felt even more deliberate and apt. Of course, that might all be in my head, or… I might be right on the money.
Anyway, in this red/orange room the cloud walls were back… or were they? It didn’t seem quite as cloudy as before but the incandescent eggs from the kiln were now dangling from the ceiling along with some speakers that played deep warped sounds… maybe? More torpedo framed the archway, but this time they sat in phallic splendour in the midst of papier-mâché flower petals over rusty metal vats of sand. And it was only when we viewed the room from this ‘phallic’ end (see image below) that the meaning of the room came together in our minds. Click play on the audio clip below to hear our musings about this room.
In hindsight, I think we entered the exhibition from the wrong end (assuming there was a right end?) If we’d entered from the red room, we’d have seen the full effect of the misogyny that thrives today, the light of femininity trapped in this warped body of expectations that forms a hard shell over the entrapped female essence (papier-mache mutant). The middle room with the metal cows could suggest how much of a woman is syphoned off to supply others with energy, fuel, life to move forward while she is often stuck in one spot just emptying herself out to support the advancement of others. I reason that they must be filling the pool because it was nearly overflowing, not nearly depleted. Of course, if those cows are really bulls then the above meaning doesn’t apply. Bulls do not traditionally drain themselves to fill the pool for others. Finally, after breaking free of the red womb room and the pink suck-you-dry room, we now fly into the clouds in the celestial room. Here, the obsession with female sexuality over-ripens and draws flies, maggots and Gods who turn themselves into geese and bulls to rape or kidnap women. The broken torpedo <insert wicked grin here> buried in sand, the eggs sitting in heat, the peach that sinks into the ocean/lava/liquid but rises again to become the sun… this all feels slightly more triumphant than the last two rooms. The reign of terror of the penis (torpedo) is broken and neutralised (in sand)? New life (each egg) is being nurtured even within this combustible explosive situation (the still) so that even while female genitalia, sexuality and eroticism (the peach) are being warped by male/societal obsession (insects & maggots), still female energy rises every time to continue bringing light and life (peach as the sun). Or maybe it’s all wishful thinking on my part?
In hindsight, I think we entered the exhibition from the wrong end (assuming there was a right end?) If we’d entered from the red room, we’d have seen the full effect of the misogyny that thrives today, the light of femininity trapped in this warped body of expectations that forms a hard shell over the entrapped female essence (papier-mache mutant). The middle room with the metal cows could suggest how much of a woman is syphoned off to supply others with energy, fuel, life to move forward while she is often stuck in one spot just emptying herself out to support the advancement of others. I reason that they must be filling the pool because it was nearly overflowing, not nearly depleted. Of course, if those cows are really bulls then the above meaning doesn’t apply. Bulls do not traditionally drain themselves to fill the pool for others. Finally, after breaking free of the red womb room and the pink suck-you-dry room, we now fly into the clouds in the celestial room. Here, the obsession with female sexuality over-ripens and draws flies, maggots and Gods who turn themselves into swans and bulls to rape or kidnap women. The broken torpedo <insert wicked grin here> buried in sand, the eggs sitting in heat, the peach that sinks into the ocean/lava/liquid but rises again to become the sun… this all feels slightly more triumphant than the last two rooms. The reign of terror of the penis (torpedo) is broken and neutralised (in sand)? New life (each egg) is being nurtured even within this combustible explosive situation (the still) so that even while female genitalia, sexuality and eroticism (the peach) are being warped by male/societal obsession (insects & maggots), still female energy rises every time to continue bringing light and life (peach as the sun).
Or maybe it’s all wishful thinking on my part?
In Summary
I absolutely loved that it was one long wide corridor that you could enter at any point and flow through. Very rhizomatic!
Used the entire space right up to the ridiculously high ceilings
Immersed the audience in the art. You didn’t just watch it, you walked into it, literally!
3 giant multi-media multi-faceted works, each inextricably linked and seamless in their flow between each other.
Other worldly
Emotionally charged (from my position as a woman anyway)
Thought-provoking
Interesting use of symbolism but how many would miss it if they didn’t know? e.g. Greek mythology
Fascinated
Curious
Confused. (Where do I start? I don’t get it?)
Adventurous (I was exploring and investigating like Colombo!)
Playful (e.g. taking selfies pretending to bite the peach)
Overall I think I felt like Alice in Wonderland. I fell down this rabbit hole into a world where the curtain has been pealed back on misogyny and, to quote Gayatri Spivak, “the subaltern speaks”. So instead of being given the dominant male narrative, the female is painting the picture without using a word… makes me think of Carnival!
What a pretty exhibition about a horrifying topic, and somehow the beauty does not deplete the horror.
This exhibition felt like an otherworldy experience, yet it felt familiar… like if I only needed to decode the symbols and then I would immediately know as much as a native in this ‘land’.
References
BBC News Service (2018) “Pompeii Dig Reveals Erotic Leda and Swan Fresco,” BBC News, 20 November. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46265708 (Accessed: 4 December 2021).
Brouwers, J. (2019) Zeus and Europa, Ancient World Magazine. Available at: https://www.ancientworldmagazine.com/articles/zeus-europa/ (Accessed: 4 December 2021).
Cartwright, M. (2017) Leda, World History Encyclopedia. Available at: https://www.worldhistory.org/Leda/ (Accessed: 4 December 2021).
Phillipson, H. (2021) Rupture No.1: Blowtorching the Bitten Peach. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/heather-phillipson (Accessed: 3 December 2021).
Rutherford-Morrison, L. (2015) 8 Weirdest Sex Stuff from Greek Mythology, Bustle. BDG Media Inc. Available at: https://www.bustle.com/articles/94692-8-weirdest-sex-things-that-went-down-in-greek-mythology (Accessed: 4 December 2021).
Stacey Leigh Ross attended Blowtorching the Bitten Peach on 3rd December 2021.
All photos shown were taken by SLRoss unless stated otherwise.