Trojan Horse (2019)
Multimedia installation

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Trojan Horse (2019)  was presented as a solo show in Stroboskop Art Space, Warsaw. This body of work consisted of hand constructed collection of whips, hybrid pommel horse, wall mural, live performance and text.

Trojan Horse manifested from three non-related historical accounts: the Trojan War, the evolution of the equestrian technique ‘side saddle’, and the contemporary gymnastic object, the pommel horse. The methodological fulcrum of this body of work pivots around a two-hour performance which plays on the statuesque image of a feminine figure straddling a horse; a monument which is rarely witnessed in modern-day society.

Throughout the performance, the girth of the steel horse is wedged between my legs as I hold the reins. My gaze is fixated forward; towards the future. Tying a knot in the rope, I begin to lasso around my head, as my crotch and hips thrust the horse. The horse remains static while my whole body physically rides it. I try to move forward, but I’m stuck in place.

A collection of horse whips was displayed alongside the steel horse structure throughout the exhibition. With explicit links to BDSM and DIY methodologies of constructivism, these whips are made from household paraphernalia; plumbing fittings, old leather jackets, tv antennas, axe handles and so on. Inspired by a small German anarchist collective that facilitates workshops on assembling DIY sex toys from household appliances, the banality of such mechanisms of construction makes the whips a desirable and accessible tool of pain, pleasure and play for the majority while simultaneously catering to the minority.

By queering the horsewhip, we expose the shift in the allegedly stable—and stabilising—border between human and animal relations; transgressing the blind spots produced by the social ontologies of animals, human desire, and their paradoxes.

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Images: 

^{thorn baton (2019)
portrait rag 285gsm acid-free archival paper
841 x 594 mm [unframed]}