Don’t touch me

The title “Don’t touch me”, like a tease, refers to our complex relationship with sex as a society and as individuals. To a larger extent it also refers to our relationship with our true nature, its carnal and finite qualities as well as to the “natural” world. Whether we fear, avoid, exploit or enjoy sex and nature, at the center of our relationship often lies the question of control.

The red petals and their texture are inviting yet slightly disturbing by their sheer number and repetition. In his latest documentary, the landscape artist Andy Goldworthy refers to the bright colors in nature as both attractive and dangerous by design.

Recycled from supermarkets’ flower bouquets deemed unfit to be sold, the petals are pressed and offered a second life. I chose flowers as a potent symbol of femininity displaying both fragility and resilience, even when past their “prime”. I use them as a natural and multi-sensorial medium to reconnect us to such senses as smell and touch, expanding beyond the growing hegemony of vision as our primary sense. “vision separates us from the world whereas the other senses unite us with it. ”Juhani Pallasmaa

Don’t Touch Me offers the viewer a rich sensory experience, it is an Ode to the natural world and to our essence as humans.