Photobook Saturday

Abject
I use the idea of ‘the Abject’ in my work to
explore this question. ‘Abjection’ is described by
Julia Kristeva as that which ‘disturbs identity,
system, order; does not respect borders,
positions, rules; the in-between, the ambiguous,
the composite.[10]’ It provokes disgust or
revulsion.
Kristeva writes that the demarcation between
male and female is one of society’s most universal
taboos, and that which blurs this boundary is
‘abject’. I think we see this in the reactions of
disgust, horror and violent aggression towards
trans people. Another definition of abject is ‘that
which we thrust aside in order to live’ and I am
interested in questioning ideas of identity that are
tied up (even unconsciously) in patriarchal and
hierarchical assumptions and lead to the exclusion
those who threaten these. In the Church of
England some men who believe that only men can
be priests refuse to be ordained (made priest) by
a Bishop who has also ordained women, and this
is called a ‘theology of taint’. In my opinion that
phrase indicates that disgust, fear or revulsion
towards female bodies lie behind protestations of
theological (or ideological) purity. Kristeva talked
about ‘the other’ as being people that are cast out,
‘outcast’ to protect identity. As someone who has
found a fruitful place on the queer edge of
Christianity, it is this place on the margins that I
am interested in. Theologian Linn Marie Tonstad
says, ‘Queer holiness is always a holiness of the
Other.’[11]
Abject art back in the 1980s was associated with
the shock tactics of using bodily fluids as a
medium, and that is not part of my methodology.
My references to female bodies and blurring of
gender are more abstract than that. I am more
interested in employing ‘surrealist strategies to
denaturalise ideologies and conventions…making
the familiar strange[12]’ in order to provoke
feelings of that reveal and challenge assumptions.
Above:
Broken Labyrinth
Pippa King 2020
Right:
Drawn on the Body 1
Pippa King 2020