deleting babiński

The work is a reference to the painting by André Brouillet from 1887 „Une leçon clinique à la Salpêtrière“. It depicts Jean Martin Charcot at the Hôpital de la Salpêtrière demonstrating his fellow colleagues, how hypnotism can control a hysteric woman easily and makes her drop down into a man’s arms on demand. The patient is „Blanche“ (Marie Wittman), who was specially trained for these performances and is held by Dr. Joseph Babiński.

In the series of 8 black and white photographs, every instant of the woman´s fall into unconsciousness is frozen and fused into a sculptural figure by isolating her body.Her poses seem stiff, but are taken out of a transient movement, which result in a state of exhaustion and complete powerlessness. By deleting the man who originally supported her equilibration, she be-comes a statue of imbalance in balance. During her state of unconsciousness, she presents herself solely as the fainting woman and refers to the images of fainting women in the arms of a man at antipodes. The history of hysteria and its imagery of affliction created a certain image of the woman as the passio-nate figure during distress. In the work, the male supporter of hysteria was erased from the pictures.

Syncope, fig. 1-8, 2014, series of 8 flags, each160x230cm, Multiflag
also as an edition of Hahnemühle barita prints, 18x24cm, edition of 5 (+2AP)

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