Limes galore! Through the language of the classical still life, Still Life with Lime Cake, Tea, and Projected Body (The Failed Manifestation) speaks to the the fat body in the struggle to attain the idealized body. The limes in this still life have been transformed from a healthy citrus fruit into a lush and sinful green cake. The pervasive lime-green color affects the ability to manifest by acting negatively to what is desired. The ideal body is desired but is not manifested, and its projection shames the fat body. A supposed omen to prosperity, the skin of the already-squeezed-out-of-life and aging lime is removed in the form of a spiral that reaches the flesh – a metaphor of time and the journey of life.

This failed ideal is imposed over the cake, whose body is lifted by a cake stand in an attempt to honor it, but the fact that it is made out of fragile glass uplifts it in a precarious situation. The cake body has been betrayed by the purity and excellence of the silver knife as it stabs deep into its flesh, revealing its gooey layers.

The violet color of the thistle and vase is an attempt to balance the lime-green color and its failed omen, but it comes as a double edge sword. With its thorny reputation, the ever-damaging purple thistle overpowers the fragile green carnation’s flesh, keeping its fleshy petals in check and imbuing the body with a curse. But the failed presage of a tipped tea cup distorts the message in the tea leaves, leaving this fat body in a treacherous situation while being blinded by its ideal. The low weight of a light, white cloth further shames this cake with its symbolism of masculinity. 

Still Life with Lime Cake, Tea, and Projected Body: The Failed Manifestation
digital chromogenic print, 2018, 44″ x 55″