la petite mort
Wood intarsia, photographs, 2017–2018
series of prints on metal and photographs (details)
La petite mort is not a euphemism but a rupture. Jacques Lacan described orgasm as
objet petit a, the unattainable object of desire that destabilizes the ego.
Here, that destabilization becomes visible in the shape of a skirt abandoned on the
floor — an imprint of absence, a trace of passing presence, a crossing, a symbolic
death. What is left behind becomes a memorial to intimacy, to lived moments, to bodies
that once filled them, or a monument to the ego.
The floating wood intarsia, crafted from untreated segments of various species, evokes
the decorative medallions of Renaissance floors and later the aspirational interiors
of the petite bourgeoisie. This reference is not ornamental. It marks a space where
class aesthetics, feminine domesticity, and artistic labour converge. In
The Critique of Judgment, Kant writes that taste is both universal and
class-conditioned — a judgment disguised as disinterest. Here, the ornament betrays
its class.
The skirt, stripped of function, becomes not just erotic residue, but a remnant of
social positioning: the artist, the woman, the worker — caught between visibility and
service.
This work marks a threshold and a withdrawal. It signals my departure from the role of
dressing others — a supporting voice — toward facing the aftermath of my own symbolic
undressing. What lies on the floor is both fabric and fossil: a bloom of surrender, a
trace of labour, a record of disappearance.
Take all life offers you — today you are a flower, tomorrow, a withering rose.
Exhibitions
2018 – About the Vulgar, solo show, Remont Gallery, Belgrade