Dimensions: 72cm x 65cm x 6.5cm
Date of the work: 2022
Medium: Plexiglass
Exhibition history: Prestorjha (2023)
When she created Oraklu, Tabone was evidently still within the same exploratory mindset informing the notions driving Prestorjha. This work is a portal to another world, whether temporal, spatial, or mystical. In it she deploys the dominant oval shape, which can be tracked across her body of work. These are arguably vulvic symbols, countering the dominant phallic symbol that permeates human life.
Significantly this relatively large object is designed to stand in what can be described as precarious balance. The precarity here is different from what can be seen in the alternative standing of Gānbēi [item 11]. That work stands dangerously in a way that it shouldn’t, while Oraklu stands balanced in a way that may give an impression of greater vulnerability than you would expect in a risk-averse environment. This vulnerability is the strongest aspect of this work of art.
The title evokes an oracular tradition, which possibly predates the Latin-derived term itself. Interactions involving precognitions of the future provide revelations of what is yet to come, based not only on what has already taken place but also on what is going on right now. Considering the titular oracle as relating to revelation makes most sense within the context of the artist’s vision for this series. It is not too far- fetched to imagine this as an oracular orifice revealing humanity itself, without looking for too figurative a representation in this transparent plexiglass structure produced by Tabone.
