Just take a minute for yourself to breathe, relax, meditate, imagine and observe.
That is what artist Wendy Nanan is hoping her exhibition, A Moment of Quiet, will be for those who visit her work at the Medulla Art Gallery in Woodbrook.
The exhibition has 20 pieces including six large pods that were shown in New York in 2022, eight smaller pods titled Prana, The Breath which were shown in Washington DC in 2021, and her latest work, six “alien” heads collectively called Other Sentient Beings.
Prana, The Breath and the pods are made of different types of seashells placed in flowing patterns in and around papier-macheeforms. They all have a very strong feminine energy and resemble vulvas of different shapes and sizes.
Two of the pods are shades of pink, while the others are gold, brown, teal, and one silver and grey. While the colours are not bright or bold, they complement the sea shells imbedded in the smooth surfaces of the pods, making all the elements stand out.
Nanan described the pods as erotic, sensual, fecund, and “pulsing with a Shakti power that is at once gentle and ferocious.” She also pointed out that the texture of the shells were in contrast to the texture of surfaces on which they were placed.
[caption id="attachment_1004168" align="alignnone" width="683"] One of the six pods on exhibit by artist Wendy Nanan. - Angelo Marcelle[/caption]
“Yes it’s very vaginal. It’s about outer and inner textures of the female body. It’s about female power and where it comes from, how it’s regenerative. I want to stress that the feminine themes of my work has no political overtones. It’s just about female power.”
While the pods were of different colours, made with different shells of different patterns, the eight forms of Prana, The Breath are completely covered in only clam shells placed at slightly different raised angles. Nanan said it reminded her of the way a person’s chest would raise and falls when they breathe.
To this reporter, the pieces seemed to encourage self-acceptance, that, no matter a woman’s size, shape, or colour, they are beautiful in their own way.
A Moment of Quiet is also the first exhibition this reporter has experienced that comes with instructions.
“It’s called Prana, The Breath because you’re supposed to stand in front if it and take four deep breaths, in and out, following the shells and reading the instructions. In meditation, prana means the breath. By the time you finished the fourth breath, you’re supposed to feel a little bit more relaxed, a little bit more at ease.”
Nanan said she associates the piece with breathing because one day she was collecting shells at the beach when she saw a clam stuck in the sand that was opening and closing. She felt as if it were trying to catch its breath, hoping to get in the water and survive. It reminded her everyone had stressful moments and stressful days.
[caption id="attachment_1004166" align="alignnone" width="976"] One of the Other Sentient Beings. - Angelo Marcelle[/caption]
“It is dedicated to the drivers and passe
