Art Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 2012
Curadoria de Raphael Castoriano / KREEMART
The performance “Ventre Livre” (Free Womb) is the development of a painting, in which two religious women, connected by their bowels, read a sacred book. During the ritual, the public was invited to share a cake made in the form of human bowels, evoking the symbolism of connection through the visceral organs, and the wisdom originated from the irrational animal spectrum rather than dogmatic laws.
The gastrointestinal tract possesses the same number of neurons than the spinal cord - circa 100 million neurons -, which makes it an interactive tool with the world, very often left aside or suppressed in prejudice of reason.
There was a third woman wearing a mirrored hat in the form of a church, which entirely covered her hair, symbol of our incontrollable nature, and connection with God in many religions. The church, as well as the books, represent the social organisms entrusted to spread laws to condition the irrational, and restrict natural mechanisms of expression and human connection.