Fiona Dent
Visual Artist
Exhibiting:
The Cutting 4
Medium: This sculptural piece is a glossy, acrylic river of blood which flows over the edge of a white plinth, dripping down, to pool on the floor. Delicate white porcelain representations of severed genitalia fall like flowers to float down the river; a few broken pieces reach the final pool. The piece asks onlookers to consider the practice of female genital cutting; the physical and mental violence, loss and trauma involved.
Dimensions: The sculpture, with plinth, measures 1.15 metres in height, 0.6 metres in width and 0.85 metres in depth (which includes the floor pool).Above and behind the plinth, some of the severed genitalia (falling flowers) are wall mounted.
On participating in Vagina Festival 2008:
My sculptural piece tackles the practice of female genital cutting (also known as female genital mutilation or FGM) and is made of porcelain and acrylic. I believe that I am the only British artist who has tackled this subject and am continuing to develop the theme in both sculpture and painting. My first contact with the practice of genital cutting was some years ago when I spent 6 months living on an oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt. I was staying with a friend and while I was there she arranged to have her 7 year old daughter cut; it was a traumatic experience for both her and her daughter, made worse by the extreme pain and infection that followed. However my friend knew that if her daughter had not been cut that finding a husband, in later life, would not be possible; wages for women are very much lower than those of men in Egypt and it is seldom an option to be a career woman and not marry, as it is in Britain and the USA.
I have come across cutting many times since my stay in Egypt, through working in the social justice field in Britain. Perhaps what shocks me most is how little knowledge there seems to be in the UK population about the practice and how it can carry on in a society where no excuses can be made for it. In the UK and the USA it is a serious criminal offence (to take part in organising it, at home or abroad) and we have none of the severe social pressures that my Egyptian friend had to take into account. In the UK it is estimated that 21,000 little girls are at risk each and every year, the USA has less reliable figures but it is estimated that at least 228,000 are at risk.
Both in the UK and USA there is a lack of knowledge and willingness to tackle cutting amongst it's female child population: Where are our principles about defending little girls from serious, violent, physical assault? Why do women have to grow up maimed, infected and with persistent pain in our 'free and emancipated' countries? The laws are in place to protect them but are remaining unused, none of the professionals are acting to implement them.
Cutting is not linked to any one religion, there are communities within at least 3 of the major world religions who practice it (Christianity, Islam and Judaiism). Nor is it confined to any race or continent; it is used worldwide and was used by European and UK familes until the 1950s as a medical cure for masturbation and lesbianism in girls and women. Sexual gratification, inevitably, is very difficult for anyone who has undergone the operation.
For me to respond, to this crime against human rights, through fine art, was something that I felt I had to do. I strongly believe that when we look at visual art work we respond emotionally to it and are therefore stimulated to think more deeply about the subject. I hope that people will be moved by my work and that professionals, such as social workers, doctors, nurses and teachers will be motivated to act and not be put off by misplaced sensitivities surrounding the subject.
Artist Statement:
As a child, all I ever wanted to be was an artist. However, as I grew, I became more politically aware and built my career in the social justice field: I worked with disturbed teenagers, serious offenders such as those who had committed murder, rape and robbery. Later I managed special projects for the Government such as community regeneration, crime reduction and drug addiction treatment. Although successful in my own small way I never found enough time for the art projects that I wanted to pursue. At the end of 2007 I reorganised my finances, gave up the day job and began concentrating full time on my art. I am a Law graduate and have practice based knowledge of psychology, never ceasing to be interested in how people behave to each other; genital cutting is one such behaviour that I am currently exploring through sculpture and painting. I find that fine art can communicate in a way that is unique. To create art is an intensely emotional experience for me and it is that intensity that I hope to convey to people looking at my work.
Contact: fi.dent@btinternet.com
Website: www.fionadent.com
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