Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster, 2019
installation
The exhibition “Salome“ reflects on figurations of John the Baptist’s death and the way they have evolved over centuries. From medieval painting and sculpture to recent theatre and cinema, the story has served as a matrix for the negotiation of contemporary ideas about religion, gender and sexual morality.
The video installation “Dance of the Seven Veils“ is a montage of seven different movies from the 20th century that feature Salome’s dance in front of King Herod. By superimposing images from the seven films, Salome’s incarnations appear as phantoms; at certain points moving apart, at other times merging together to form a new body.
“Glossolalia“ is a porcelain sculpture based on casts of Postma’s own neck. Glossolalia, or speaking in tongues, is the act of speaking a language that one has not previously learned, which in biblical stories was a sign of a divine gift. The visceral structure appears to move through the gallery, splitting and joining, constituting a body that morphs, repeats and regenerates itself.
The medieval wooden sculpture on display, part of the collection of the Westfälischer Kunstverein, is an example of a rich tradition figuring the prophet’s head isolated on a platter. Many of these representations seem to suggest that the brutal incision is followed by a state of blissful peace.
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