Patricia Piccinini

Teenage Metamorphosis 2017

Teenage Metamorphosis 2017 makes a playful literary reference to Franz Kafka’s best-known short story The Metamorphosis. As fantastic and future minded as Patricia Piccinini’s works often appear, many of the underlying scenarios are in fact inspired by her own experiences, and in this instance she draws not only on her own reading, but on her son’s transformation from a child to a young adult.

Piccinini also courts ambiguity and multiple readings, as this makes for an enigmatic experience and thoughtful engagement. In this work, the viewer is unsure if the metamorphosis referred to in the title is that of the young man’s physical maturation, a humorous nod to his intellectual awakening through cultural content, or the obvious genetic transformation that he has undergone. He body reveals that he has apparently incorporated animal DNA, perhaps that of a pig, into his own – though he also exhibits another level of sculpted genetic mutation to express the patterns of a sneaker sole in his back.

Piccinini’s interest in sneakers, and shoes generally, stems from a recognition of the ways in which designers stir our latent desires and emotions through shapes, patterns, colours and textures. In fact, design contributes so much to our everyday experience of the world that we, the viewer, might not see this young man’s augmentation to be as strange as it obviously is. Consumer desire, stoked by sophisticated design, is such a significant part of our experience of the world. It could be that his ‘tread’ also has some other very specific protect purpose for an intended future vocation, but its utility is not as obvious as the suggestion of fashion.