Heart, Derived by Rebecca Spilecki

Heart, Derived by Rebecca Spilecki
Lewiston High School
Medium: Oil on Fired Clay
Dimensions: 7″ x 5″ x6.5″

At one point wondering where the symbol of the generic heart (♥) had come from, clearly not being based in any way on the actual organ of the human heart, I came across the postulation that that simple symbol for affection and romantic love was very possible based upon the shape of the female vulva. This piece is an exploration of that fact, as well as an examination as to what that means, not only to women, but to our modern society as a whole. It is meant to display the blurring between love and lust, between romantic and carnal love, between innocence and experience. Since they occupy two faces of the same piece, two sides of the same coin, neither can be said to be the superior or inferior in modern society, where the emotional and physical boundaries of love are becoming more and more the same thing. This being said, however, there is also commentary about the appropriateness of the piece (not in the fact that it is a vagina but in the fact that the vagina and all it denotes is now apparently connotative of whatever shallow “love” a generic heart also represents) in that it displays the ways in which sex and sexuality, especially female sexuality, have become more and more cheapened, more and more a commodity to be bought and sold like Valentine’s candy. The exactitude and the bareness of the vulva I hope will also convey a criticism of the dichotomous cultural rejection of natural female beauty by displaying that which takes effort and discomfort to provide greater ease and comfort to men. The thought of love being intrinsically and historically attached to sexuality should garner even more fear and discomfort at the thought of how ill many women are treated both in the name of love and in the name of so-called pleasure.