Objects is a series of photographs and glass mosaics that examines two ways American culture speaks about, represents, and objectifies the vagina. The photographic works investigate the power of language, particularly the ways words can shape our relationships to our bodies. By replacing anatomical language with euphemisms, slang, and object-based terms, language can separate a body part from the person to whom it belongs. In these photographs, Curtis visualizes alternative names used in place of the anatomical term “vagina,” while deliberately removing the upper half of each figure to reinforce this sense of fragmentation and objectification.

Extending this investigation from language to the physical object, Curtis considers parallels between the cultural treatment of women’s bodies as objects of sexual conquest and the display of hunted animals as trophies. Working in glass, Curtis creates shiny, sharp-edged mosaic forms resembling vaginas and mounts them on wooden plaques in reference to taxidermied animals displayed as trophies. Together, the photographs and mosaics examine a long-standing cultural tendency to separate bodies from personhood, transforming both bodies and their representations into objects to be named, possessed, and displayed.

Cake, Digital Photograph, 2016

Catcher’s Mitt, Digital Photograph, 2016

Train Tunnel, Digital Photograph, 2016

Sub Sandwich, Digital Photograph, 2016

Diamond, Digital Photograph, 2016

Heart-Shaped Box, Digital Photograph, 2016

Beaver, Digital Photograph, 2016

Taco, Digital Photograph, 2016

Pie, Digital Photograph, 2016

Salmon, Digital Photograph, 2016

Pussy Cat, Digital Photograph, 2016

Papaya, Digital Photograph, 2016

Light Socket, Digital Photograph, 2016

Flower, Digital Photograph, 2016

Honey Pot, Digital Photograph, 2016

Cookie, Digital Photograph, 2016

Roast Beef, Digital Photograph, 2016

Orchid, Digital Photograph, 2016

Glass Object 1, Glass mosaic, wood, glue, 2016

Glass Object 2, Glass mosaic, wood, glue, 2016

Glass Object 3, Glass mosaic, wood, glue, 2016

Glass Object 4, Glass mosaic, wood, glue, 2016

Glass Object 5, Glass mosaic, wood, glue, 2016

Glass Object 6, Glass mosaic, wood, glue, 2016