Body Politics

Opening December 6th, 8 pm

Artist's Talk December 14th, 2 pm

Exhibition Catalogue-essay by Marusya Bociurkiw

Access Artist Run Centre is pleased to present body politics, an installation by Kelly Phillips. The artist's research encompasses the ethical debate around the use of the body to advance specific social system, such as the collection of biological data.

Numerous cast ceramic sculptures of penises cover the gallery floor and a collection of human tongues cast in rubber are pinned to the wall. A series of metal plates, inscribed with a narrative that urges amputation of the tongue as an alternative to the fear of speaking out, are mounted above the tongues.

Using the body as a metaphor for conditions of contemporary society, Phillips utilizes parts that reference sexuality and individuality. The assertion of the individual, through speech for instance, is ultimately compromised by the interests of mass culture-as represented by the multiple casts. Dispersed in various formal arrangements in the gallery, the amputated parts are at once disturbing and comically absurd.