Pamela
Joseph
The Garden of the Virgins
(detail)
1999
Mixed media, mechanized with music
10' x 18' x 9'
more
work from
The Sideshow of the Absurd
| The
Garden of the Virgins frames the entry for the traveling carnival,
The Sideshow of the Absurd. Visitors pass under a rainbow arch of
lights anchored by golden unicorn statues. On fields of astroturf
and surrounded by white picket fences, the unicorns are poised to
prance through the fields of sparkling plastic dolls surrounding them.
The small figures sway and girate gently as if blades of grass in
the wind, or a field of elaborate sex toys. Visitors walk into what
appears to be an idyllic world with beautiful golden unicorns, green
grass, picket fences, swaying figures of little girls, and carnival
music. Here they are introduced to one of the themes of the show:
that violence lurks behind the construction and reification of symbols
and icons. The subtext to The Garden is about a fall from grace, and how in every safety there’s a danger; in every paradise, sin. The Bible, among other texts, makes reference to the special powers of the unicorn, the thrill of hunting and killing them, and their power as aphrodisiacs. According to mythology, a unicorn never dies, and the only way to capture one is with a virgin. The small swaying dolls surrounding the unicorns in this exhibit can be seen as preventing their escape, and perhaps robbing them of their power. The dolls resemble toys, mounted on popsicle sticks with childish innocence but suggest adult roles in the way they look like dildos. |