Elizabeth Dychter: Tetas (Breasts), 2012-2019
Tetas series started after a routine mammogram, which showed something unusual in one of my breasts. My exams were fine, and I was not sick, but with that in mind, I started to research breast cancer in Argentina, where I was born.
One in eight women was going to develop breast cancer in Buenos Aires. It shocked me. The numbers were alarming. I had to do something. I was not in that statistics now, and not to be in the years to come; I had to create awareness.
Something so full of life as a mother’s breast, the absolute beauty in The Rennaisance, the sexy cleavage in the 90s could become the worst nightmare. Life and death, beauty and decadence, the beginning and the end … all in a breast.
At first, came “Notify and archive,” a huge shelving full of beautiful breasts. Eight in each row, to be exact. Seven of them, with pink lace representing the fight against breast cancer, and the eighth crackled, with black lace. The one who didn’t make it. That was the beginning of “Tetas.”
Then I created “Wherever you go, Mamma is watching you.” The eyes of the Mona Lisa, looking at you from a breast. This last one was followed by “Hanging like the Mona,” a play of words in Spanish, Mona = Monkey.
Then came “Delicate Decadence,” where I started working with porcelain to find the whiteness of a perfect boob. It also appeared as the Venus of Botticelli. At first, breasts were the epitome of beauty, but then, they started to crackle until they faded—an allegory of disease.
In the last ten to twelve years, I’ve only worked with porcelain, which is difficult to find in Argentina and Uruguay. That’s why I started making art residencies worldwide because in my country was impossible to find good porcelain. Finally, I began to import it just for me, so now I only work with Parian porcelain, which I find best for my work.
Initially, it was only the eyes of the Mona Lisa or the head of The Birth of the Venus. Then I started to use the images of other Renaissance paintings. Usually from Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael, or Botticelli, my favorites. The Spring, Lady with the unicorn, and my own eyes.
I work with customized decals mixed with commercial bugs and flower decals, symbolizing that death can also lie beneath the beauty.
Captions
Tetas Series, 2019, Parian Porcelain, decals, 200 x 200 x 10 cm
Delicate Decadence, 2015, Porcelain, decals, 60 x 40 x 10 cm
Hang in there, 2017, Porcelain, decals and wood frame, 18 x 20 x 10 cm
Hanging like the Mona, 2013, porcelain slip, 60 x 40 x 10 cm
Notify and archive, 2012, white clay low fire, 120 x 120 x 10 cm
Terrarium 2, 2016, porcelain slip, 25 x 25 x 15 cm
Tetas Series, 2019, Parian porcelain, decals, 250 x 250 x 14 cm (approx)
Tetas Series, detail, 2019, Parian Porcelain, decals, 14 x 10 x 8 cm
Me, Tetas installation, 2019, Parian porcelain, decals, 45 x 45 x 50 cm
Terrarium, 2016, porcelain slip, earth, glass and decals, 25 x 25 x 15 cm
Tetas installation, 2019, Parian porcelain, decals, 200 x 14 x 200 cm
Wherever you go Mamma is watching you, 2013, low fire slip cast clay, 110 x 80 x 10 cm
