LONDON––At a glance, the installation appears like an industrial-sized rack of eggs, each tightly nestled in layer upon layer of egg cartons. Closer inspection, however, reveals the “eggs” are actually hundreds of ceramic representations of the Virgin Mary’s head.
The work is that of Colombian-born, London-based artist Viviana Troya. Titled Hatchery, the installation at Bloomberg New Contemporaries at Peckham’s South London Gallery (December 5, 2018 – February 24, 2019) explores the forces, intrinsic and entrenched, that glue society together: food, religion, humor and reproduction.
In an interview with TANK, Troya explains her installation explores the concept of reproduction through her employment of Virgin Mary imagery in egg form, though here, the work delves even deeper exploring how technology affects that concept through mass- and even over-production and consumption.
It seems fascinating and dissonant to me how that all these production and reproduction processes, from our species, to our food and the objects we cherish or we dispose of, are actually glued together by feelings and human emotion.
To join Troya in this thought experiment, the artist’s work presents the audience with a cross-cultural access point by her use of such an ubiquitous object and symbol as the egg, allowing for deep subjective inquiry and critical thought.
“I seek to create experiences that give people the sensation of the real world, a piece they can connect with and respond. I am invisible in my work. I try to make people see themselves in the work”
Troya explains her eggs take on a performative role too.
The work follows an intervention I made in a municipal market in Madrid, where I changed all the eggs in a shop for the ceramic pieces.
Read Troya’s full interview with TANK here.
Viviana Troya
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