bumkunst

Švalje – Cut

oil on canvas, švalje, Cut

Cut

A single vertical intervention divides the surface with surgical clarity, extending almost the full height of the composition. Unlike the stitched works elsewhere in Švalje (The Seamstresses), this image presents the act before repair, restraint, or attempted closure. The cut remains exposed.

A concentrated eruption of red interrupts the otherwise austere field, marking the moment at which controlled incision becomes visible violence. The splattered pigment suggests both immediacy and consequence, transforming the work from symbolic anatomy into direct event.

Its scale is critical: the dimensions approximate bodily presence, shifting the image from representation toward confrontation. The viewer is no longer observing an abstract gesture, but standing before an enlarged record of intervention.

Within the logic of the series, Cut occupies a decisive position. If sewing implies regulation, concealment, or forced restoration, this work isolates the irreversible act that makes such procedures necessary.

There is no seam here.
Only the decision that precedes it.

Cut
Cut
close-up
Cut in NGVU
Cut in NGVU
Cut in Berliner
Cut different view
work in progress
work in progress
work in progress
work in progress
work in progress
work in progress
work in progress

Dimensions: 188 x 133 cm
Year: 2019
Oil on canvas, waxed thread

This series emerged after reading accounts of female genital mutilation and other forms of ritualized control over women’s bodies. The works transform the painted surface into a site of incision and repair: the canvas is cut with a scalpel and subsequently sewn, producing forms that oscillate between wound, symbol, and anatomical suggestion.

Although visually minimal, the interventions refer to historical and ongoing practices in which pleasure, autonomy, and bodily integrity are subjected to cultural, religious, or social regulation.

The stitch functions ambiguously throughout the series. It may indicate healing, concealment, restraint, or survival. The image remains suspended between violence and restoration.