Get over tit! New show busts the great boob taboo

From religion to sexualisation; shame to a basic life source, the image of the breast has always been complex. Despite everyone being born with breast tissue, the topic of breasts still remains the subject of scandal and taboo.

So why are we so bothered by boobs? A new exhibition at Kunsthalle Wien explores this problem. Curated by Laura Amann, ‘Darker, Lighter, Puffy, Flat’ investigates the art-historical gaze upon breasts and their meaning in contemporary culture, through the work of Austrian and international artists.

The show aims to break free from binary and heteronormative readings of breasts, not just in art but in society at large. As Amann tells me, “The exhibition looks at a cloud of contemporary topics: what the erotic could be today, the pressures of beauty standards, queer bodies, bodybuilding, censorship, motherhood, prosthetics and surgery, the male breast as something nourishing, the breast in religious contexts and poking fun at the breast as an object of fetishisation. It is surprising how many issues can be explored through the vehicle of breasts.”

Images of breasts are ever-present; pornography, advertising, film and video game industries use breasts to shock, seduce and sell. “The fascinating thing about breasts is that they are omnipresent and yet they still provoke so much outrage,” Amann continues. “I think art can use this to make a point, as it has the potential to elicit emotional responses and reflection as feminist activists do when they show their breasts,” Amann continues.

In our heavily digitised world where filtered and edited images have become the norm, nipples (specifically those attached to female breasts) still suffer from online and real-world censorship. But why is the image of the breast still so polarising? “The female body – or in truth any non-white non-male body – has always been a politically contested territory,” Amann explains  “In this sense, female breasts are perhaps the most visual expression of these conflicting attributions. On the one hand, breasts are still seen as symbolic of femininity and motherhood – caring and nourishing – but at the same time, they are sexualised and objectified. On the other hand, images of breasts are a tool for feminist activism. The breast is a symbol that holds a lot of conflicting meanings.”

When the world we live in shames and erases certain bodies, proudly displaying nipples and breasts can be an act of resistance and exposure, but also one of objectification. ‘Darker, Lighter, Puffy, Flat’ responds to this conflict by presenting works that explore the nuanced motif of the breast and interrogating the complex and sometimes sinister issues concerning perceptions of the gendered and sexualised body.

“I started the curatorial process several years ago, after noticing how many breasts I saw in contemporary art. One day I had a discussion with one of the directors of Kunsthalle Wien,” Amann reflects. “She put me on the spot and asked what kind of exhibition I would create, and that was the first thing that came to my mind: a boob show. She loved the concept and the rest is history.”

The exhibition features work from important Austrian feminist artists such as Maria Lassnig and VALIE EXPORT. “I’m very proud that we were able to include Lassnig’s never-previously-exhibited painting, Dream of the Ideal Bosom, and EXPORT’s 1986 film, A Perfect Pair, which is a crude and fun commentary on the monetisation of the female body,” adds Amann. The show also features newly commissioned work from Maja Smrekar and Sharif Baruwa. “Smrekar lures us in with a seemingly cute Biedermeier interior before ‘shocking’ us with images of her breastfeeding her dogs, while Baruwa’s thoughtful installation centres around a video of the artist in a sort of confessional, stream-of-consciousness monologue reflecting on his teenage insecurities about breasts and fatherhood, seamlessly embedding it in a post-patriarchal and post-colonial discourse.”

As the show’s title suggests, breasts come in all shapes, colours and sizes. Regardless of our individual experiences of empowerment or unease with breasts, they are everywhere. In a world where our access and relationship to images of breasts are contaminated by mass media and societal pressures, what is erotic and what is problematic? “I hope visitors understand the show as celebrating all kinds of breasts, and that they’re able to reflect on issues that are damaging to our society: beauty ideals, rigid binary understandings of family, gender and sexuality, and the pressures to adhere to heteronormative standards. Overall, I hope the exhibition is a step forward in normalising the naked breast while using it as a vehicle to highlight queer and feminist critiques, proposals and desires.”