The Venuses

The Venuses is an exhibition of hand stitched soft sculpture figures who are costumed and who represent hypothetical modern-day Venuses. Additionally, I have painted each of their portraits to further elevate the Venuses. The Venuses are inspired by the Venus of Willendorf who is estimated to be at least 30,000 years old. According to the Head of Vienna’s Natural History Museum, Ms Antl-Weiser when speaking of the original Venus she believes that “She’s (the Venus) rather (an) older woman, one who has certainly already had children.” She is most certainly not the marble statue of the young Venus of Roman times who stands with arms crossed over her body protecting her modesty. Each of my Venus figures have the same squat plumpness of the original Venus of Willendorf and each figure stands approximately 30 cm tall (the original was a mere 11 cm tall). My soft sculptures reference older women and the lives they lead. For example, The Venus of Housework is made from cleaning cloths and acknowledges women’s ongoing domesticity. Other examples are the Venus of Insomnia, a maddening condition prevalent in older women

Photography by Louis Lim

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Venus of Employed