Flesh of Vessel

Flesh of Vessel explores the desire to perpetuate order through the domination of bodies and the struggle of flesh that refuses subjugation. Ships, gardens, collections and zoos emerge as vessels that transport, classify and regulate bodies. These vessels construct a utopian garden, an image of paradise where time is taxidermied even as finite bodies are continuously transformed. Across sculpture, moving image and installation, the exhibition juxtaposes maritime hulls, architectural elements of Victorian glasshouses, garden design diagrams, Wardian cases, cabinets of curiosities, plant growth processes, myths of Daphne and werewolves, and cultural iconography. Through the montage of fragmented images and myths, different temporalities conflict, provoking metamorphosis that exposes tensions between constraint and movement. Within these forms, the boundaries between flesh and vessel become ambiguous, while relations of domination and resistance are unsettled. Chaos emerges as bodily transformation alters structures of possession. Can bodies transcend the boundaries that constitute them?