Fertility Flowers
2021
Interactive Installation composed of Glass, Film, Wood and Scent
An interactive installation of glass, scent and film that uses mythology to address issues surrounding the fertility of women.
Fertility Flowers was part of “ Collaborative Survival”, a group exhibition curated by Danni Shen at the 601artspace located in the Lower East Side.
Goldie Poblador (b. 1987, Manila, Philippines) explores the origins and mythologies behind the Dama de Noche and Peacock flowers, both native to the artist’s home country, the Philippines. Poblador’s multimedium, eco-feminist approach addresses how flowers are taken from their countries of origin and are appropriated through trade. In the tale of the Dama de Noche, the queen is unable to produce an heir and is then turned into a flower. The Peacock flower was also used by West Indian women under colonialism as an abortifacient in order to not bear children into slavery. Poblador’s olfactory installation, entitled Fertility Flowers (2021), transports audiences into miniature worlds rendered through glass, fragrance, performance, and film. The creation of a short film unmasks these narratives around both flowers and their uses, exposing entangled ecologies of colonialism, patriarchy, and the social oppression of women as child-bearers. Poblador’s shapeshifting reimagination attempts to decolonize these histories in which female bodies become flowers as punishment.
Exhibition text by Danni Shen
The best way to recapture what this piece was like is through this video:
Installation view:
Fertility Flowers film stills:
Fertility Flowers Film was made in collaboration with the following:
Director of Photography: Sasha Palomares; Creative Direction by Apa Agbayani; Character Design, Hair and Makeup by Slo Lopez; Production Manager: Tony Battung; Edited by Abby Alcanzare; Color Grading by Bianca Francisco; Music composed and performed by Michelle Sui; Mixed and mastered by Zach Rosenberg
Exhibition Design by Hannah Liongoren; AV programming by Alex Hornstein; Installation Assistance by Sean Maze
Exhibition Video and Sculpture photos by Michelle Sui & Shanhuan Manton
This project was supported, in part, by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant
Special thanks to 601Artspace and Danni Shen
Press: https://hyperallergic.com/663824/imagining-our-climate-future-artist-speculations-about-climate-change/
Registered as Goldieland Studio / New York, NY