WASH
 

Siall Waterbright 2004
Hand-carved commercial soap

Wash is a series of portraits of vulvae carved in supermarket soap cakes.

The portraits are anonymous but individual, reflecting physical variations and metaphor.

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This work explores the commercialisation of sex, the reduction of women and non- binary gendered people to anatomy, and perceptions of genitals as unclean.

I was drawn to start this series by the similarity in colour and visual surface quality between common commercial soaps and prostheses, including prosthetic sex aids, and the hand-held quality of soap. The amusing names given to soap also tickled my imagination. Although the names are playful, however, Wash acknowledges and exploits the olfactory resemblance of commercial soap to vaginal washes and personal sprays. These alleged hygiene aids prey on insecurities that stem from presenting natural body odours as offensive, and profound anxieties about women's and non-binary bodies. Wash also explores patterns of consumption and replacement. The intricate nature of individual vulvae are like faces; they confront.
 
Time hardens, discolours and erodes the portraits. The soaps are permeable and decay, resisting their function of preserving their subjects in an ideal form.