Working in cast glass, bronze, plaster and clay, Woffenden creates ambiguous sculptures that refer to the human body. She embraces the contradiction of violence and beauty, translating ‘terrible images into beautiful forms’, and recognises a duality that we often choose to ignore. The psychology of violence, gender and death are infused into her work, which she investigates through the materiality of her various chosen media. The artist writes of this piece: “This bronze sculpture was inspired by a story that a young bull elephant lost its mother to an ivory poacher, it entered a village and found the man who had committed the killing and killed him. I am interested in this inter-species action, revenge being something we reserve for humans, but can happen elsewhere. Also I’m moved by horrific actions such as killing for one part of the animal. Another work 'Shark Fin' was made after seeing an image of the fin-less shark disabled, sinking, having been thrown back in the water”.
2012
bronze
82.0 x 35.0 x 43.0 cm
793
© Emma Woffenden. Image courtesy of The Ingram Collection © JP Bland
This work is part of The Ingram Collection of Modern British & Contemporary Art and was on loan to the Lightbox for the exhibition "Redressing the balance: Women Artists from The Ingram Collection" (11 August - 20 September 2020).
This work is part of The Ingram Collection of Modern British & Contemporary Art and was on loan to the Lightbox for the exhibition "Redressing the balance: Women Artists from The Ingram Collection" (11 August - 20 September 2020).
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Emma Woffenden, Elephant Revenge
Redressing the Balance: Women Artists from The Ingram Collection
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