Omphalomancies, 2019

(I protruding navel, II big and deep)
Old clothes, water clear polyester resin
49x38x8cm, 39x34x11cm

Old and used sports clothes sit carelessly on the floor, fixed by resin in the form in which they were left. Its title, Omphalomancies surges from an antique method of divination, claiming to determine the future conceptions of newborn babies based on the shape and marks of their navel. Omphalomacies depict two types of navels, one big and deep and a protruding navel. Both act as windows or doors into a seemingly collapsed bodily dichotomy (interior-exterior). Omphalomancies appear as the result of the domestic and intimate action of taking off one’s clothes and leaving them carelessly on the floor. Discarding used and seemingly sweaty clothes on the floor becomes a political action that reconsiders the uncontrollability of the body and questions its structures, ends, and beginnings.

Installation views at The one that’s always there, the one that came late, the one that never arrived, the one that wasn’t invited at SB34 the pool, Brussels with works by Darya Diamond, Esther Gatón, Evangelia Dimitrakopoulou, Manon Van den Eeden, Rebeca Romero and Patricia Bandeira.

Photography: Silvia Caplleari