What the body whispers
The title of this exhibition, ‘What the body whispers’, refers to how the body tells stories through small, subtle gestures. It is not the big movements that reveal the story, but rather the soft, almost imperceptible ones that show what the body feels and experiences.
The human body reflects emotions, the spiritual, who we are. At the same time, it is also a tangible object, something you can look at, feel, or examine. The artists in this exhibition start from this realization. They explore the body, transform it, show what it can tell us, while part of it always remains mysteriously hidden.
The body thus appears as a tipping point between the visible and the hidden. What we see is always fragmentary, never complete. What remains hidden takes on extra meaning and opens up space for imagination.
As in mythological metamorphoses, the body constantly changes shape and meaning. Artists reexamine it, give it new forms, and imbue it with new symbolism. By fragmenting, distorting, or abstracting, they create a fresh perspective that invites us to discover new stories and perspectives.
This approach ties in with a broader art-historical tradition in which the body is constantly re-examined and used as a medium to tell a story. Think of Francis Bacon's figures, in which distortion makes inner pain and emotion palpable, or the Polish artist Alina Szapocznikow, who imprinted body fragments in sculptures, thus making stories of trauma and grief visible.
What the Body Whispers brings us back to the body as a source of meaning: a body that speaks, even when it is very quiet.
Steven Peters Caraballo
When a body breathes its last breath, the soul crosses the mythical river Styx, accompanied by a ferryman. In classical imagery, this is Charon: an elderly man with a stern face, but in Steven Peters Caraballo's paintings, this figure appears in an unexpected guise. Not as a man, but as a young, fresh woman.
Whereas in the past the entire body was portrayed, Caraballo now focuses on a fragment of the body: the lips. A small detail can sometimes say more than a complete image, leaving room for the unspeakable. No eyes that look back, no voice that speaks. Only the lips: a place between silence and speech, between what is shown and what remains hidden.
Each deceased person gets their own Charon; with each crossing, a new companion appears. The series shows mouths of Charons from Europe, Africa, and Asia, each full and sensual, with its own unique presence. Seductive and unattainable, this multitude makes Charon universal and inescapable: no one escapes her presence.
The paintings vary in intensity: sometimes the mouth is sharp and immediately present, sometimes it partially dissolves into a vague outline, as if it only fully forms in the eye of the viewer. This gives viewing a physical character: the mouth imposes itself on the gaze, leaves a shadow on the retina, and thus subtly changes perception itself.
By playing with the physical tensions of the canvas, the mouth sometimes emerges from the surface, like an apparition entering the space. What at first seemed to be a window transforms into an object: the paintings approach the viewer and force confrontation.
Repetition and variation turn the mouth into a ritual motif, a visual mantra. Each mouth is different, but always seductive and silent. This creates an endless series of Charons, each a companion who embodies the same paradox: closeness and distance, invitation and prohibition, promise and boundary.
Wolfe De Roeck
The art practice of Wolfe De Roeck focuses on the re-visualization of physicality. She explores and transforms the boundaries of physicality into a deeper, conceptual experience. Using multimedia technologies, rituals, and traditional elements, De Roeck creates a unique fourth dimension within performance, in which action theater plays an important role.
Her work is imbued with movement; it forms a continuous search for the dynamics of forward motion. She strives to dissect values while simultaneously building an innovative visual identity characterized by shifts and changes.
As a performer, De Roeck explores the boundary between body and object.
In her work My, I Present You, she focuses on ancient Venus statues that exist in a time when the authenticity of an image can no longer be ascertained. She works with materials that have also been used in art history, but which take on new meaning due to their mutability in interaction with the environment. From her background as a dancer—where perfection in imitation was central—she approaches performance as an experience that transcends the boundaries between physicality and objectivity.
My, I Present You shows a performer and dancer's search for a portrait of how she wishes to present herself in a Western art landscape that has prioritized beauty throughout the centuries. A beauty that is abstract in itself, yet has been made visual time and again.