Tits tits tits tits tits. Tiddies. Big ole tiddies! Tig ol’ biddies. Mommy milkers. BOOBS. Breasts. Jugs. Melons. Knockers. Honkers. Mounds. Salacious solid soft sensual suckable tits.
By Vina Nweke
7/23/23
Tits, 2021. Image courtesy of the artist.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not reflect the opinions or views of Bunker Projects or its members. All images courtesy of Bunker Projects.
Tits, 2021 is a collection of five ceramic breasts with beaded ornaments. Through this piece I endeavored to capture the tantalizing treasures of the bosom while spotlighting the uniqueness of black femme bodies. The breasts celebrate distinct bodies and are aptly named: cunty tit, aunty tit, middle tit, grandma tit, and laidback tit. My research entailed studying my own breasts and of course watching pornographic videos. Porn seemed the most obvious way to satiate my desire to view the body as it is an arena characterized by the unabashed display of the human body. The entanglement of pleasure and desire with mechanisms of racialization is played out through the population of categories such as “Ebony Tits” that guided my research. This space that is specially curated for the pleasure of the viewer blurs the boundaries between the interior and exterior as the body is laid bare. This project also required me to be in touch with my body in its topographies and desires. I wanted to create tactile breasts evocative of the many textures of the body— from the grainy nipple of cunty tit to the indents of middle tit to the deep grooves of grandma tit. I experimented with layering different glazes and underglazes to try to capture the beautiful brown tones of the black femme body. Tits, 2021 invites touch but immediately denies haptic satisfaction behind the lofty walls of the gallery.
Tits (detail), 2021. Image courtesy of the artist.
Through my critical praxis I confronted the question of the visibility for the black femme body, or more specifically how the gaze is instructed and disciplined in the presence of this body. Black feminist scholarship often grapples with the ever-present pornographic gaze that haunts black femme embodiment. To this note, I recall a moment where a white man stood befuddled before the display of Tits. There he stood towering over my Tits, arms crossed and legs apart in a stance of defense as a look of confusion marred his features. I deliberately contend with this voyeuristic affect by spying on an intimate moment where ebony tits are meant to be viewed in private. Putting her breasts on display elicits desire that is immediately thrown into despair. Like Fanon in the moment where the gaze of the white child fixes him in his blackness, the gaze of the white man fixes these objects of desire in their paralyzing blackness.
Nweke with their work, Tits. Image courtesy of the artist.
At the genesis of this project, in 2021, I was inspired by John Currin’s paintings at the Gagosian gallery in New York. His treatment of eroticsim and fleshy material is coupled with his affinity to toe the line between the beautiful and grotesque, evidenced in his exaggerated proportions. His use of grisaille also deliberately imitates a distinct marble texture popularized in the 20th century. I was particularly drawn to the bosoms of these figures, wanting to hyperfocus on this site of sensuality. My reaction to his pieces was one of arousal and immediate scrutiny as I was confronted with my basal urges. I found myself wanting to cut through the noise and focus on one site of pleasure: the exaggerated breasts. I chose to work with clay because of its similar ability to invoke a similar stone-like texture. However, I was acutely aware of the difference between Currrin’s work and my intentions of rendering erotic images in a distinctly black tone that further blurs the line between the beautiful and the grotesque.
I was also in conversation with Simone Leigh’s Cupboard VII (2018) as a culture-specific representation of the Black female body. This 10-foot tall sculpture with an enormous skirt of raffia like that of a thatched roof is topped with a ceramic pot for a head and a bare torso with outstretched arms. Her bronze creamy skin glistens and invites the gaze and her gesture is one of regality and acceptance. I was particularly drawn to the head of the figure which I would refer to as a calabash, a traditional pot made of clay in Western Africa. I read Leigh’s figure as a silhouette in its uniformity of color and refusal to afford more details, especially in the smooth defined points of her nipples. The silhouette offers a screen of privacy to the bare black femme body as her outline also hints at a fleshy potentiality.
Thus, Tits also double as vessels with the potential of holding more. I was inspired by the idea of fluidity, the pressure of containing, and fear of overflowing for this black femme body. Into these vessels I poured feelings of frustration and neglect endemic to the location of their birth. In a space where the erotism of the black femme body is often thrown into despair and denied satisfaction, I wanted to counter narratives that fix this body in a (de)sexed position. This black femme body comes into focus through a series of objectifications where pleasure becomes inextricable from the process of display.
Tits (details), 2021. Images courtesy of the artist.
Tits is a study of the human body and its assets. Through these pieces I hazard the question of what a body is, and why it is such a tortuous, humorous, sedulous substance. Black feminist scholarship also asks us to center the body in our understanding of the World and structural forces that color our existence. However, I found myself plagued by the question of how to center a body that is exhausted through its parade of enmities. I wanted to confront the viewer by leaving nothing to the imagination and thus the nipples become focal points that gaze back at the viewer. Through this piece I hoped to spotlight eroticism in hope of reclaiming a black femme body often enervated by the many demands placed upon her.
Image Sources:
John Currin, Pinup, 2021. ⓒ John Currin – https://gagosian.com/exhibitions/2021/john-currin-memorial/
John Currin, Sunflower, 2021. ⓒ John Currin – https://gagosian.com/exhibitions/2021/john-currin-memorial/
Simone Leigh, Cupboard VIII, 2018.
ⓒ Whitney Museum – https://whitney.org/collection/works/61149
Vina Nweke is a writer and artist based in Pittsburgh, PA. Their work is centered on interrogating materiality and troubling those sticky boundaries of being. They are currently working on their BA in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies and Africana Studies from Williams College. They are a member of the hotbed collective and their work has been previously published in The Republic and ANMLY. They can be found on instagram @_muanya_.
