Semén figures I & II

In his sculptures, Terry Dimoulias questions heteronormativity by bringing an object of great cultural significance – lace – into dialogue with the human figure – one of the oldest subjects in art. For instance, we could draw connections with the sculptures of antiquity, whose aesthetics have defined the Western canon. In spite of their multiple references to this past, however, Dimoulias’s figures stand beyond easy categorisation, and are playfully non-gendered. Their anatomy, posture, clothing and lace all seem to contradict each other, in a constant blurring between the “masculine” and the “feminine”. This effect is further accentuated by the fact that they are “dissected” or “half” – seemingly missing what would have made them full representations. 

 

At the same time, through their principal material, the sculptures also allude to the relations of power behind patriarchal family, which have at their core money – lace is still used in Dimoulias’s home country Greece, and in other places around the world, as part of the traditional marriage inheritance gift (“preeka” / “προίκα”). Notably, the pieces of lace used in the sculptures belong to the artist’s personal collection of inherited cutwork lace.