Repose (Zig Zag Girls)
The way that The Eye Sees window space is divided into three parts became the inspiration for the work Repose (Zig-Zag Girls).
The Zig-Zag Girl illusion is a magic trick where the magician divides a woman’s body into thirds — much like the famous ‘sawing a woman in half whilst in a box’ trick.
Repose (Zig-Zag Girls) uses a vintage pin-up photograph as its source material. Stenram has digitally altered the pin-up photograph by obliterating most of the two models and leaving only (parts of) the legs intact.
The idea of ‘display’ is central to the work: the storefront window; the magician’s show; the role of the woman on display in both pin-up imagery and as an assistant for the magician’s show.
The resultant image is macabre (the severed limbs no longer entice and the original erotic effect is turned on its head) and echoes the morbidity of the underlying violence in the magic illusion.
Viewers may try to piece together the original position of the model, or perhaps accept the women’s body parts as either absurd interior decorations or props.
Repose (Zig-Zag Girls) was displayed from 10.09.2022 until 29.10.2022.
