Simone Leigh Trophallaxis 2008-17

Simone Leigh creates sculptures, videos, and installations that center on the construction of Black female subjectivity. Drawing on various sources and disciplines including ethnography, folklore, alternative healing traditions, and buried histories of political resistance, Leigh delivers emblematic works that highlight the complex concerns of women of color related to physical and mental health, societal beauty standards, community, and equality, bringing them to the forefront of current cultural debates. Trophallaxis (2008–17) encapsulates Leigh’s emphasis on the female body—particularly the Black female body—as a culturally loaded signifier. The title references a scientific term that describes the behavior of adult social insects as they transfer nourishment from their own bodies to the collective’s larvae—a significant gesture that entails cooperative care and communal labor. Hanging from the ceiling, this impressive chandelier-like sculpture consists of a cluster of black terracotta and porcelain forms that resemble fruit or bursting breasts with nipples painted in silver and gold, from which a menacing network of fully extended antennas protrude. The forms exude a sense of heightened fertility. At the same time, the scars and marks on each vessel create an ominous impression while recalling traditional African practices of body scarification. Here, Leigh confronts the viewer with a metaphor about the complex associations of the female body with fecundity, sexuality, and labor, alluding to the frequency with which it serves as a conduit for violence as well as its potential as a vehicle for empowerment.

Identification

Title

Trophallaxis

Production Date

2008-17

Object Number

2018.005

Credit Line

Collection Pérez Art Museum Miami, museum purchase with funds provided by PAMM’s Collectors Council

https://www.pamm.org/en/artwork/2018.005

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Physical Qualities

Medium

Terracotta, porcelain, epoxy, graphite, gold and platinum glazes, and antennas

Dimensions

Dimensions variable

Visual Description

“Trophallaxis, is an enormous structure that hangs from the center of the ceiling in the double height gallery which is a 30 feet tall room. As you enter this space be aware that the lighting is dimmer than in the rest of the galleries in the museum. This work is considered an installation piece because it is a 3-dimensional piece of artwork that challenges the space it is in and rearranges how we as the audience interact with this artwork through altering our physical space and guiding our body as we explore the art. This piece hangs high above the view which forces the audience to look up immediately upon entering the room. Above us is a cluster of over 50 separate pieces suspended by thick industrial grade metal cables. There are smaller round forms on the outer edge of this composition and larger ones clustered in the center. Each form is shaped as an oval with pointed ends facing down at the ground. The larger pieces are painted in a flat matte black as the smaller pieces (that seem to hang slightly higher than the larger darker pieces that hang lower and closer to the ground) are left exposed without paint. The smaller pieces, which are referred to as satellites by the artist, are of a terracotta color and are made of clay. The larger pieces are actually made of porcelain, painted a chalk-like charcoal black at the top. Gold, bronze, and silver paint is added to the pointed tips of these breast-like figures. The larger pieces are cast from watermelons and the smaller ones are cast from varying fruit seemingly small avocados. These larger breast-like forms are centered in the composition while the smaller pieces are all resting along the outside of the cluster. “

Simone Leigh

Simone Leigh — b. 1967, Chicago; lives in New York
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