Fabian Schwankhart, Gender symbols, Ceramics, 2023
A pistol and a shell. Both have a meaning as a symbol for the male and female gender respectively. The pistol stands for violence, fear and disaster. Whoever holds it in his hand carries power. The power to take a life. A deadly weapon as a phallic symbol that actually creates life, not ends it. A shell, a hard shell is like a shield. But next to the gun it looks vulnerable and fragile. She could never win this fight. Yet the woman would be capable of it.
The work uses these two symbols to raise questions about gender. The two objects make an incongruous duo. In such symbols, whether consciously or unconsciously, ways of thinking are anchored that need to be broken open at the latest today. The symbols for the sexes seem unsuitable. This may also be due to the fact that in our time, genders elude any symbolic assignment, since clear ideas about them are - fortunately - being pushed back more and more.
Many people have to struggle with socially widespread assumptions about gender that do not apply to them. As a result, one cannot be recognised as the person one really is. You should always be aware that people don't conform exactly to the ideas in their heads. Because they don't have to.
Fabian Schwankhart is studying Art at Augsburg University.