Viviane Sassen: of mud and lotus

Abstract

Inspired by the Buddhist proverb, "The lotus flower blooms most beautifully from the deepest and thickest mud," 'Of Mud and Lotus' is an organic flirt with the notions of richness and fullness that the basic idea of womanhood implies, including pregnancy, childbirth, and other biological processes in the female body. Employing collaging techniques and hand-colored photographs, Sassen skillfully juxtaposes elements of abstraction and performance, to create colors and textures with a sense of tension that further enhance the feeling of richness of her multilayered images, and thereby give the viewer various options in terms of reaction and interpretation. The swarms of bacteriae and spores evoke the proliferation of somatic cells, while such organic materials as egg, milk and flowers hints at the richness of the female body, and at the same time, highlight the omnipresence of ample curves in nature. These images appear rather abstract at first glance, but on closer inspection one understands how they are composed out of familiar objects and extemporary motifs, which are pulled out of their original shapes and charged with new life through Sassen's careful collaging.