Artist stuns guests with walk-in vagina
Reshma Chhiba’s provocative solo exhibition Two Talking Yonis at Constitution Hill in Braamfontein had guests blushing on Thursday night.
A giant yoni (Sanskrit for vagina) greeted guests. Many were momentarily confused, then turned pink when realisation dawned.
Chhiba, the registrar of the Johannesburg Art Gallery and creative director of the Sarvavidya Natyaalaya dance school, has gone where few fine artists have dared to tread — she has broken all stereotypes and is setting a trend of her own. We checked out her exhibition and were tickled. COME INSIDE: Chhiba says the giant yoni is the key work in her project. She constructed this site-specific installation to allow people to walk inside the yoni. At the entrance is a sign asking guests to remove their shoes. She added that the installation was representative of Kali, the Hindu goddess of time, change and destruction. At the end of the yoni is a portrait of Chhiba with her hair wild and dishevelled, eyes huge and fiery, and her tongue sticking out of her mouth, reflecting Kali’s pose. As guests walked into the installation, they were caught by surprise with a recording of a terrifying scream and then a mocking laugh, representing Kali going into battle with a scream and then mocking her opponent with laughter. Also inside the yoni were swords and tongues — Kali is always pictured carrying a sword and sticking out her tongue. OUT IN THE OPEN: The exhibition was born out of discussions between Chhiba and her friend and curator Nontobeko Ntombela — hence the name Two Talking Yonis. It has taken Chhiba a year to put together the exhibition, which includes the sitespecific installation, a photographic exhibition of the classical Indian dance of Bharatanatyam and paintings of the Hindu goddess Adhya Shakti in a squatting pose, displaying her vulva to be worshipped. Guests were intrigued, shocked and amused at the same time. OVERALL: There were no formalities on the opening night of the exhibition, which runs until August 31. Guests nibbled on snacks and had a chance to discuss Chhiba’s work.