Dimensions: 109cm x 39cm
Date of the work: 2023
Medium: Plexiglass (back-silvered)
Exhibition history: Prestorjha (2023)
This work is an example of how Tabone prefers to leave ample room for the imagination of anyone who experiences her work to roam free and make whatever associations they see fit, rather than only the ones that she presents to them through her art.
The artist’s extensive explorations with plexiglass as her material of choice are bound to deliver works that deviate from the normative style that she has established for herself through the various transparent objects and structures she has produced since 2009. In the series of works she developed for Prestorjha, the Ninfa figure emerged as an iconic figure in the final months of preparation for the 2023 exhibition.
Speculum is based on the same human female figure shape from which Ninfa was created. Nevertheless, when exhibited in a gallery environment, it provides an opportunity for exhibition visitors to see themselves within the works on show. In this way, the artist is also enabling every visitor to interact intimately with her work, without necessarily touching it directly. Seeing ourselves as part of the experience makes us all connected.
The name is the latin word for mirror. It is also the name of a medical tool designed for the examination of body orifices. As Tabone has already established word play as a signature element in a significant number of her works, it is evident that here the mirror takes on a feminist commentary beyond the reflection of light, alluding to one of the most intimate examinations many women have regularly with medical professionals.
While nowhere near as direct as Annie Sprinkle’s Public Cervix Announcement (1990), Tabone’s body of work has multiple references to vulvas, vaginas, and other intimate female orifices. In Speculum she shows that engaging with a topic in reflective ways can be as meaningful as being more figurative and direct.
