24.09.–26.11.2022, Mai-Thu Perret. Portrait of a woman, Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman, Innsbruck, AT
The centrally presented ceramic sculpture “Minerva II” (2022) stands for the Roman goddess of craftsmanship, wisdom and the fine arts. Perret used an antique statue from the Palazzo Massimo in Rome as a model, of which she made her own version in ceramic using a 3D scan. In this, she supplemented the life-size body of the original figure from classical mythology with a new face, coming from Perret’s sister-in-law, who is of half european half african origin. A present-day transformation of the ancient deity takes place, combining different body fragments and time horizons, whereby Perret refers to the transformation of images of femininity. The surreal blue colouring of the sculpture simultaneously introduces a level of abstraction that questions clear attributions or a real location of the figure. As a symbolic accompaniment, the Minerva is flanked in the exhibition by a ceramic owl, also glazed in blue. (Madeleine Freund, excerpt from the text for the exhibition, Portrait of a woman, Innsbruck 2022)
