I saw the Patricia Piccinini’s sculptures/drawings/video this past weekend at the Frye (now, unfortunately, gone). I had seen pictures of her work previously and anticipated it would be a day of mixed reactions. I couldn’t have been more right.

Here’s a sample:

^That’s ‘Undivided’ from her ‘Nature’s Little Helpers’ series.

I know, right? How do you know what to feel about something like that?

There’s an essay on her website (click the ‘In another life’ essay from the home page) that describes, beautifully, her reasoning for creating such things. It’s a fantastic read, well worth your time. Here’s a little sample:

The danger here is to confuse creation with control. Just because we can create and manipulate things does not necessarily mean that we can control our creations. Anyone who dabbles in creation would do well to remember that as soon as something exists we begin to lose our grip on it. For me this freedom is a beautiful thing.

More images of her work below the cut, but truly, give her a chance to explain a bit before you let the potential revulsion send you away. It would be best to read the descriptions of the scenes presented. Without context, it could just be a freak show.

They can be pretty disturbing, but if you give them a minute – most will … well – I’ll just use more of her words:

Ideally these things will disturb you even as you warm to them, or vice versa. They are probably the wrong answer, but perhaps there is something special in their incorrectness.