Erin Venter, Only Feels Like a Pinch, Air-dry clay and paint, Varying dimensions – roughly 1m by 1m in total, 2023
Medical bias and abuse is something that is unfortunately still a large problem in the medical field that goes back centuries. Due to many medical science experiments and studies being only focused on white men in Western medicine, gender bias has been a huge issue that does not seem to be disappearing. For hundreds of years, women have been subjected to inaccurate medical treatment and the understanding of the female body has been scarily misinformed and based on stereotypes and misogynistic ideas. Because of this, many medical tools used on women are painful, invasive, and cruel. There seems to have been no consideration for female patients and their pain.
For the artwork, I researched a selection of old-fashioned female medical tools, such as ecraseurs, speculums and cervical dilators as well as old fashioned torture tools used specifically on women ranging from the 15th to the early 20th century. Through research I discovered a striking similarity between the medical tools and torture devices and decided to combine the two to show highlight the brutal treatment of women in the medical field throughout history. I recreated the tools using air dry clay and then painting them with a thinned down black acrylic paint wash to recreate the old-fashioned, weathered metallic look of the tools. The clay was also very delicate and breaks easily, so I utilised that by presenting the tools in a broken, but still neatly organised, way. I presented the pieces on a metallic table covered in a dirty white sheet to recreate the medical settings and the dirty sheet is to create discomfort around the tools and their environment.
I then used another sheet to which I stitched in thick pieces of paper using red and white thread. The paper was then spread apart and pulled back with further red thread to create a feeling of discomfort and manhandling within the work. I finally placed some of the tools within the paper and threaded them to the paper to further create this feeling of being forced into this “medical” situation and to highlight the torturous aspect of this history.
Erin Venter, Only Feels Like a Pinch, Air-dry clay and paint, Varying dimensions – roughly 1m by 1m in total, 2023
Erin Venter is a KwaZulu Natal artist who is primarily based in Pretoria. She is currently studying at the University of Pretoria and her main mediums include mixed media and painting, though she has dabbled in a variety of different mediums and also enjoys printmaking and sculpture.
Her works focus on personal identity, looking at themes of upbringing, feminism, religious identity, and nostalgia. She enjoys using a variety of materials, such as embroidery, to express these themes in her art. She is mainly focused on experimenting with different mediums and themes, though her focus is shifted towards painting and exploring different themes through her own personal lens.