“Vaginal Rapture” is a sculptural piece from the Soft Souls Series, created by the Iranian-Canadian artist Hoda Zarbaf.
Hoda Zarbaf was born in 1982 in Iran in the early years of the Islamic revolution and war; she later on in 2008 relocated to Canada to complete her MFA. Over the years, being a female artist who has experienced life in two different countries and cultures, she has sought to make narrations of intimacy alongside solitude, and the complex boon of being a woman. Her work has almost steadily reflected the complexities of social, emotional, and gender identities.
In her latest sculpture series “Soft Souls”, Zarbaf uses recycled textiles, preowned clothing, old toys and found objects to expose and express her personal understanding of being a woman through old-fashioned feminine means and skills. Collecting the abandoned pieces of clothing, which have at some point been intimately in touch with the unknown bodies, and marrying them artistically in her art, is Hoda’s attempt to reconnect with the past and bring back the lost intimacy.
Vaginal Rapture is about the womanly process of release and exposure, whether it’s the act of child bearing or expressing pain and joy. The oozing soft forms project affection while evoking motion. The softness and mobility of the stuffed textiles in contrast with the stability and permanence of the chair create a visual dichotomy, which is a reflection of our bodily paradoxes. These contrasting elements continue throughout Hoda’s work, such as in the chaotic stitches that create unity while negating perfection. Hoda in this piece captures the body in the instant of exposing: pain, pleasure, sexual memory, and self-obsession.
