maria veritas
Maria Veritas is the curator of this exhibition and a conceptual artist who explores the role of women in the post-feminist age.
Maria Veritas was born in Venice in 1959 and studied Art History at the University of Padova. She was working as creative muse for the anarchic Venetian fabric designer and political activist Fiorella when she met and married an English mathematician and moved to England. Her intention was to find work in the London fashion scene but the events of one cold November night in 1984 caused her to change her career path. Her heavily pregnant neighbour went into labour. Maria waited with her for the ambulance but when it did not arrive Maria was forced to take responsibility and deliver the tiny baby girl. This had a profound affect on her, so much so that she trained to be a midwife and worked on maternity wards in London for the next 20 years, specialising in trauma and Caesarian section. During this time she witnessed first hand the devastating consequences of violence against women and campaigned for better counselling services for victims.
"I was utterly infatuated with the whole maelstrom of human emotions that surround birth. I still consider myself a midwife first and artist second."
Part of that maelstrom can be anger, and it was anger which lead Veritas into the arts. A young rape victim had undergone a caesarian .It is usual for surgeons to leave the stitching of the wound to an assisting theatre midwife but this particular surgeon liked to close wounds himself. Unfortunately his nickname was 'The Pastie Man', a name given to him because his stitching was so poor that it created a raised curved wound like a Cornish Pastie. The young rape victim had been scarred enough. While the surgeon was out of the room advising his registrar on another patient, Maria quickly assumed control and closed the wound. The surgeon made an official complaint and Maria received an official warning. Incensed by the injustice and by the apathy of the other midwives Veritas resigned. The following day she staged and filmed her protest, marching into the packed hospital canteen and presenting the surgeon with an embroidered Cornish Pastie. This became known as her seminal work 'The Pasty Man'.The spelling is deliberate, it is to mimic the word nasty. Although the original film no longer exists, a film still has been recreated and limited copies are sold to raise funds for Rape crisis charities.
"I was utterly infatuated with the whole maelstrom of human emotions that surround birth. I still consider myself a midwife first and artist second."
Part of that maelstrom can be anger, and it was anger which lead Veritas into the arts. A young rape victim had undergone a caesarian .It is usual for surgeons to leave the stitching of the wound to an assisting theatre midwife but this particular surgeon liked to close wounds himself. Unfortunately his nickname was 'The Pastie Man', a name given to him because his stitching was so poor that it created a raised curved wound like a Cornish Pastie. The young rape victim had been scarred enough. While the surgeon was out of the room advising his registrar on another patient, Maria quickly assumed control and closed the wound. The surgeon made an official complaint and Maria received an official warning. Incensed by the injustice and by the apathy of the other midwives Veritas resigned. The following day she staged and filmed her protest, marching into the packed hospital canteen and presenting the surgeon with an embroidered Cornish Pastie. This became known as her seminal work 'The Pasty Man'.The spelling is deliberate, it is to mimic the word nasty. Although the original film no longer exists, a film still has been recreated and limited copies are sold to raise funds for Rape crisis charities.
She continued to use the medium of film, going right back to basics and exploring the notion of womanhood. Her Venetian heritage can be seen in her series of photographs 'Sea Eve' which were taken on the Lido.
These show her acting out various creation myths. They are however as concerned with texture and tone as they are with image. The image represented here is called 'Adam's Rib'. A female shadow against wet earth and dried bleached bone evokes thoughts of possible fecundity but at the same time there is a tongue in cheek reference to the truncated Venus de Milo torso and the myth of the classic ideal.
These show her acting out various creation myths. They are however as concerned with texture and tone as they are with image. The image represented here is called 'Adam's Rib'. A female shadow against wet earth and dried bleached bone evokes thoughts of possible fecundity but at the same time there is a tongue in cheek reference to the truncated Venus de Milo torso and the myth of the classic ideal.
Maria is currently working in ceramics and has produced a series of pots exploring the notion of pain and forgiveness. This vessel is a libation cup for those women who have suffered the indignity of FGM and who continue to live with its affects.
She works within a concept. Her latest installation is a protest work against the misogyny of Donald Trump. It consists of a whoopy cushion nailed to a board. Nailed above it is a ball of yellow wool and written above this in Fairground font is the slogan "Press to hear the leader of the free world speak". She has curated this exhibition in the hope that visitors will at some point forget that the art is created by women and just be absorbed in its existence. Maria Veritas is an alter ego. She is all the women I have ever known. The artworks are my own. All facts on this page are taken form real lives, lives that I have encountered, even my own. |