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Mes Pétroleuses, 2008
Etchings on Rives Moulin de Gué paper, egg tempera
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It is also the name for the women of the Paris Commune of 1871, accused of burning down much of Paris with petrol bombs, precursors of the Molotov Cocktail so popular during the événements of May 1968. The women were supposed to dress in black, with a red ribbon around the neck, like the cut of the guillotine. Their existence is doubted by historians, though the important role played by women during the Commune is not.
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Mes Mariannes, 2008
Laser-cut felt
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Marianne, symbol of France is shown wearing a Phrygian cap. The Paris sans-culottes displayed their revolutionary ardour and plebeian solidarity in wearing the cap, which, during the Great Terror, was adopted even by those who might be denounced as moderates or aristocrats, eager to demonstrate their adherence to the new regime. Mes Mariannes, copied from fashion plates of 1871, year of the Paris Commune, become all cap, so to speak, as phallic silhouettes, an eponym after Etienne de Silhouette, the finance minister who in 1759 imposed such harsh economic demands upon the French people that his name became synonymous with anything made cheaply.
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Pétroleuse, 2006
Hand-made silver necklace, a unique object from a series of 3 necklaces
each presented in the same way in a silk covered foil?blocked box,
lined in plush red silk velvet. Photo : DR
The word Pétroleuse is a pejorative term signifying both an 'allumeuse' in meaning, in French a woman who seeks to inflame the desire of men (without offering satisfaction) as well as a woman who affirms her political opinions in the most violent manner possible. What a naughty tease !
The series is completed by 2 further necklaces presented in foil ? blocked boxes : 'Allumeuse' and 'Aguicheuse'.
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