Made to Measure 2     2008

Made to Measure 2 is a sound installation which incorporates the recorded statements of women, ages twenty to thirty, in response to the question ‘Do you feel measured as a female?”  The voice, joined with the commissioned music Shanti, is projected through speakers placed in three sculptural forms. For brief moments of time we are drawn into the women’s words, the actuality of an individual life and experience. It is the individual story that counts.

I am interested in the voice of women and a truth that is the result of ‘lived experience’. I ask a question, receive an answer, listen to what is apparent in the answer, what is hidden in the answer, and what the voice reveals.

These sculptural forms, Hottentot Venus, Thin Venus and Plus Venus, sculpted in the ‘dressmaker-judy’ style, represent the female form reduced to a set of core ‘shapes’. None are perfect according to the measure of ‘10’. The hips are too big, the breasts too small, the body too ample in these female forms.

The surface of the sculptural forms is like a skin, a skin of protective armour, yet it shimmers with beauty. It is possible to consider that the surface, so exquisite in its beauty, cannot allow the measure of the form contained within. This skin hugs the body revealing the full nuance of each shape: the preciseness of the small breasts of Thin, the absolute fullness of the buttocks of Hottentot, the rich and ample body of Plus.

Title, Medium and Dimensions


Hottentot Venus, 
resin, pearl autobody paint, wheels, speakers, 153 cm h x 51 cm w x 44 cm
 d

Thin Venus, 
resin, pearl autobody paint, wheels, speakers, 153 cm h x 44 cm w x 29 cm d


Plus Venus, 
resin, pearl autobody paint, wheels, speakers, 144 cm h x 37 cm w x 44 cm d