THE ART OF RITUAL: JANINE ANTONI
BY AIMÉE LEAHY
Exploring the profound connections between everyday acts, identity, and the rituals that shape us through the groundbreaking work of Janine Antoni.
Janine Antoni's art never fails to hold my attention. When I first encountered Antoni's work, it was her daring use of unconventional materials and her body as both subject and medium that stood out. She doesn’t merely create; she immerses herself. She is a leading figure in contemporary art, renowned for her ground-breaking studies of the body, identity, and the dynamic relationship between artist and viewer. Since the early 1990s, she has engaged audiences with innovative and intellectually stimulating installations, performances, and sculptures across various disciplines.
Her art examines the interplay between ritual and transformation, inviting viewers to contemplate the deeper significance of everyday actions. She challenges conventional notions of beauty and craftsmanship by using unconventional materials and techniques like chewing, licking, and bathing. With her unique approach to art, Antoni engages viewers on both an intellectual and emotional level, challenging the conventions of contemporary art and exploring themes of desire, intimacy, vulnerability, and ritual.
Ritual, in its broadest sense, encompasses a set of actions, behaviours, or ceremonies performed in a prescribed manner often with symbolic significance. It can be deeply ingrained in cultural,religious, or social contexts, serving various functions such as marking important life events,establishing social cohesion, or expressing spiritual beliefs. Rituals are often characterised by repetition, symbolism, and a sense of reverence or solemnity.
Embodied ritual merges physical actions with symbolic meaning, engaging the body in transformative acts that convey deeper significance and cultural resonance. Looking at ritualistic performance, it encompasses multifaceted dimensions, weaving together aesthetic, psychological, and social processes.
Aesthetically, ritualistic performance involves the deliberate orchestration of actions, materials, and spaces to create visually and sensorially compelling experiences. These performances often blur the boundaries between art and life, challenging viewers to engage with the transcendent power of symbolic gestures and bodily interventions.
Psychologically, ritualistic performance can evoke profound emotional responses and introspective contemplation. By engaging with rituals, individuals may tap into primal instincts, confront existential questions, or experience moments of transcendence. These performances can serve as vehicles for personal growth, healing, or self-discovery, providing a space for individuals to explore their identities and relationships to the world around them.
Socially, ritualistic performance fosters communal experiences and collective meaning-making. Rituals often serve as cultural benchmarks, reinforcing social norms, values, and traditions. Through participation in shared rituals, individuals forge connections with others, reaffirming their sense of belonging and interconnectedness within a larger community or cultural context.
Knowing this, it is clear that ritual is at the heart of Antoni’s creations. Through mundane acts like eating, licking, and bathing, Antoni highlights the ritualistic nature inherent in human existence. Incorporating her own body into the artwork, she creates a dynamic interplay between the physical and the conceptual, urging contemplation of the power of ritualised gestures. Antoni's work serves as a demonstration of the influence of ritual in shaping our understanding of self and society. Through her work, she prompts us to reconsider the rituals in our daily lives and reflect on the profound connections between the body, identity, and acts of creation.
Take, for instance, her piece, Gnaw (1992), where Antoni addresses themes of consumption, desire, and the intricate relationship between the body and food. This monumental piece, showcased at the 1993 Whitney Biennale, featured two massive 600-pound cubes—one composed of chocolate, the other of lard—partially chewed by the artist herself.
I remember researching this piece and feeling equal parts fascination and discomfort. Antoni’s process was visceral. The softer lard bore the imprints of her facial features, while the harder chocolate exhibited distinctive bite marks. This physical transformation of the material emphasised the artist's effort and the visceral nature of her engagement with the work. Following the gnawing process, Antoni repurposed the chewed materials. The chocolate remnants, blended with her saliva, were melted down and shaped into twenty-seven heart-shaped packages, evoking themes of love and desire. Meanwhile, the lard residue was mixed with wax and vibrant red pigment to create 135 tubes of lipstick, symbolising societal standards of beauty and femininity. Antoni's exploration of consumption and transformation in Gnaw reflects not only on the bodily experience but also on broader cultural and societal themes, inviting viewers to contemplate the complexities of desire, indulgence, and the human condition.
The labour-intensive nature of this artwork echoes traditional rituals of devotion and self-sacrifice, imbuing it with both physical and metaphorical significance. The materials chosen - chocolate symbolising pleasure and indulgence, and lard representing sustenance—intensify the sense of desire and satiation, turning gnawing into a metaphorical exploration of human cravings and appetites. Moreover, Antoni's bodily engagement with the materials underscores the physicality of the performance, emphasising sensory experiences of taste, texture, and exertion. Through this immersive process, she prompts reflection on the embodied nature of desire and consumption, urging viewers to consider how their bodies shape and are shaped by their desires. Gnaw serves as a profound exploration of these themes, inviting contemplation of their significance in shaping human existence.
Then there’s Loving Care (1993), where Antoni redefines the act of painting through a bodily ritual. Using hair dye as her medium, she transforms a gallery floor with her own hair as a brush, blending grooming with artistic creation. Antoni’s choice to use her own hair as a paintbrush and hair dye as paint was nothing short of audacious. Her approach reimagines traditional concepts of what art can be, asserting Antoni's agency and control over the gallery space.
Watching footage of her sweeping the gallery floor with her hair, her movements pushing onlookers out of the space as she went, I felt the tension between vulnerability and control. Loving Care invites viewers to reflect on the complexities of self-care and expression, highlighting the impact of everyday rituals in shaping personal identity and social perception.
The resulting patterns in Loving Care bear a direct connection to Janine Antoni's bodily movements. As she uses her hair as a brush, her gestures and motions dictate the flow and direction of the colour. The patterns emerge organically, influenced by the rhythm and intensity of Antoni's movements. Each stroke, twist, and turn of her body leaves a distinct imprint on the surface, creating a visual record of the performative act. Through this intimate connection between body and artwork, the resulting patterns become a tangible manifestation of Antoni's physical presence and creative energy.
It is, however, her 1993 piece, Lick and Lather that might be my favourite. Antoni explores the interplay between self-indulgence and self-destruction, using chocolate and soap to craft a series of self-portrait busts. Shown at the Venice Biennale, this groundbreaking work moves beyond traditional portraiture, exploring the artist’s touch and the rituals of consumption and cleansing. Antoni defaces her own image through the act of licking or lathering each of the fourteen classical busts, imbuing them with layers of symbolic resonance.
Antoni’s decision to sculpt self-portrait busts from chocolate and soap struck me as both intimate and unsettling. These mutilated busts captivate audiences with their evocative blend of the familiar and the uncanny. The exploration of cleansing and purification transforms ordinary soap and chocolate into objects of contemplation and introspection.
Soap, traditionally associated with cleanliness and purity, embodies the desire for renewal and transformation. By sculpting her likeness in soap and then engaging in the act of washing, Antoni explores themes of self-purification and shedding of societal expectations. On the other hand, chocolate evokes desires and temptations.
Through the juxtaposition of these materials, Antoni looks at the duality of human nature, where the desire for purity and self- improvement conflicts with the allure of hedonism and instant gratification. This exploration prompts viewers to reflect on their own struggles with self-care and self-destructive tendencies, inviting contemplation on the complexities of human existence and the quest for balance and fulfilment.
Antoni’s deliberate use of materials from the home questions the division between public and private spaces, encouraging exploration of how domestic life informs identity. Antoni suggests that true selfhood may be most palpable in the intimate moments of daily life, such as eating or bathing. Lick and Lather serves as a poignant reminder that identity is not static but rather fluid and dynamic, shaped by personal experiences, societal influences, and everyday rituals.
Through the repetitive acts of licking the chocolate busts and washing the soap busts, Antoni initiates a gradual deterioration of the sculptures' physical forms. This erosion symbolises the impermanence of identity and the continuous evolution of selfhood. Just as the sculptures undergo transformation through Antoni's actions, so too does the concept of identity evolve over time.
What makes Antoni’s work resonate so deeply with me is how she integrates the process into the product. Her performances aren’t just a means to an end; they are the art. Distinguishing between process and product is pivotal in comprehending her works. While the final artwork may be visually captivating, the journey, the process behind its creation, often holds deeper significance.
Antoni's fusion of ritualistic process and cultic object compels viewers to contemplate the transformative potential of ritualistic actions and their broader implications for understanding the self and the world. Through elevating mundane activities to art, she underscores the prowess of rituals in shaping identity and relationships.
Through her art, Antoni asks us to reflect on our own rituals. How do we engage with the mundane? How do our daily actions shape our identities and our connections with others? Her work is a reminder that even the smallest gestures can hold profound significance, that art isn’t confined to the canvas but lives in the spaces between our everyday moments.
Her work isn’t just something to look at; it’s something to feel, to question, to carry with you long after you’ve left the gallery. Looking at her work, I find myself revisiting the rituals in my own life. These everyday actions—brushing my hair, eating, washing my hands—suddenly carried a deeper weight.
Thus, I find Janine Antoni's work leaves a lasting imprint, challenging you to see both yourself and the world through an altered lens.