THE DIVINE INTERIORS OF EVIL WOMEN
Halloween | All Saints 2020
An immersive installation and exhibition of ink works on paper and manipulated furniture at The Universal Gallery Space in Chattanooga, TN.
Artist Statement
The Divine Interiors of Evil Women is the rogue child of my long-standing series of gaunt and delinquent ladies and the arrival of a previous tenant’s Restoration Hardware Catalog in my mailbox. The glossy pages of lush, seductive interiors begged to be degraded by spills, cigarette stench, and the stains of real women. Interiors represent both the gilded cages that pacify us as well as the psychological and physical interiors of womanhood. As a species both desired and demonized for our sexuality and biology, it’s no surprise these interiors are filled with confusion, resentment, self-loathing, rage, and rebellion.
When I realized those glossy Restoration Hardware pages were shit to work on, the evil women spilled out onto paper, patterned like the decorated walls of our personal battlegrounds. Furniture became dangerous, a broken chair now a splintered cross to kill the suburban succubus. Mirrors to show us the damage done and that time waits for no woman.
It should go without saying that the existence and discussion of “women’s issues” does not deny the struggles of men or claim superiority through mass victimhood.* This is not “oppression olympics,” but rather statistics—underreported yet still overwhelming. Much like the elevated instances of domestic violence perpetrated by those we are supposed to call for protection. Everyone breaks in a broken system. Acts of violence are perpetrated by and against every flavor of person. The culprit addressed here is age-old misogyny. Demonization and stigma, the henchmen of control, are born of fear. From Eve the deceiver to the Whore of Babylon, we are taught that Woman is the arbiter of doom. And she must be controlled at all costs.
The Divine Interiors of Evil Women celebrates the sacred resilience of women in myriad forms of captivity, seen and unseen, through the years. In this world, they do what they want. And you should be scared. They have opinions and desires. They will ash on the carpet. They will bleed from their “wherever” and sit on your furniture.
*My deliberate use of traditional binary genders represents the historical rejection of all who fall outside these narrow constructs. I see you.
All artwork by Erica Scoggins
Photography by Mat Reiter: mreiterphoto.com
Huge Thank you to Ali Waller of Universal Arts Collective, Dakin Cranwell, and Gabrielle Chevalier for the installation and promotion of this event
