I ♥ MEDUSA
Stoneware, video 03:25:57
2016
Drawing from the themes established in the precursor work, i…, Hautemulle delves into the correlations between clay and flesh: the softness of unfired clay mirroring the tenderness of the human body, and the transformation of that clay through fire, paralleling the hardening of muscle through disciplined practice. In this space, the tactile nature of wrestling—of bodies forming and resisting each other—finds a poetic resonance in the act of shaping clay.
The work also invokes the mythic figure of Medusa, a symbol of the monstrous feminine, to explore the tension between the soft female body and the hardened, muscled bodies of male wrestlers. I ♥ Medusa evokes a complex love for the mythic figure, reclaiming her power and challenging the viewer to see beyond the monstrous to the vulnerable, the strong, and the enduring. Just as ancient Greco-Roman pottery often depicted the art of wrestling, this project allows contemporary wrestlers to reclaim their imagery by shaping the pottery that their bodies have so often adorned, drawing a line from the mythic past to the present, where the feminine and the muscular coexist and confront each other within the framework of traditional and modern narratives.
