OR OTHER

Consisting of a flashing neon sign and two photographs, the installation first points to the Madonna-whore complex formulated by Sigmund Freud, according to which men’s expectations for women are in conflict. Men expect sexual satisfaction on the one hand and maternal care on the other, which, however, cannot come from the same person.

In Maria Kapajeva’s installation, the words ‘whore’ and ‘mother’ flash alternately, sometimes forming the phrase ‘or other’. The artist points to the fact that the virgin-whore complex also aptly describes the notions of women’s roles circulating in the media and in the subconscious of society. Kapajeva, who, like all women, does not necessarily identify with either of these roles, asks a pointed question: “Isn’t there any other possibility?”