Presentation of the Publication “Crotches”

The Support Committee for the Crotches catalogue cordially invites you to the presentation of this publication by the painter, Lisa Salamandra at the Fondation des Etats-Unis on Tuesday, September 12. The catalogue will be presented by Tamara Leylavergne and Abnousse Shalmani, in the presence of the artist.

Crotches is a series of 48 paintings created between 2000 and 2016, which includes symbolic and metaphorical representations of the female figure exclusively through the “Y” of her crotch. This region – suggestive, charged and sexual – becomes, under the auspices of the “Y”, a leaf, triangle, the sky dividing the forest… Her « unveiling » expresses many themes: protection, confinement, pleasure, mystery, fertility, patriotism… The female figure becomes a container, a vessel, a labyrinth, an emblem.

As Abnousse Shalmani writes in her essay on the series: “The crotch of women is no longer reduced simply to desire or maternity; it no longer oscillates between the licit and the illicit, it is no longer the prison of women, the origin of her servility or of her fault.  It is at once political, organic, sexual, playful, vegetal, dark, joyful, animal, made of steel or of a dream; it is what the woman chooses in accordance to her wishes.”

The Crotches catalogue was published in April 2017 to accompany the first exhibition of the series at the Galerie In Situ in May 2017. It features essays by renown writers: Abnousse Shalmani, Ilene Dube and Mary Oestereicher Hamill. The graphic design was created by Laurent Debord/Anamorphose and the photographs were taken by Philippe Fuzeau.  The catalogue is composed of 80 pages, 48 images, 3 essays, and is entirely bilingual in French-English; its printing is a limited edition of 250, of which the first 100 catalogues are numbered.

Tamara Leylavergne, Patron of the arts and President of Protys, created and led the Support Committee for the publication Crotches.

Lisa Salamandra, a painter and doctoral student in Fine Arts research at the Sorbonne, has regularly exhibited her work since 1989.  She holds a BFA from the Maryland Institute, College of Art in Baltimore, and an MFA from the Sorbonne in Paris.  Her numerous works can be found in public, corporate, and private collections; and several series of her works have been the subject of publications.

Born in Teheran, Abnousse Shalmani was exiled to Paris with her family following the Islamic Revolution.  After completing studies in history and modern literature, she became a journalist.  She then began producing and directing short films in addition to script-writing for fiction films and  documentaries. In 2014, she returned to her first great love, literature, publishing her first book, Khomeiny, Sade, et Moi (Editions Grasset). In 2016, she collaborated on the second edition of the revue, Le Courage (Grasset). Her work centers around questions of a women’s place in society and of the female figure.  She writes regularly for Vanity Fair magazine and collaborates with the Club 28 minutes (Arte Television).

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