Aneka Jones

Rotten is a non-representational self-portrait of myself at this moment in time, exploring identity, femininity and purpose. A pig, a symbol of gluttony and cruelty, its flesh's taste compared to that of a human's, said to be as intelligent as a 3-year-old. Exploring what it is to be human through an observation of this worth hierarchy. Love is real, but are we just intrinsically living machines? Machines designed to stay alive and reproduce. Sex is at the centre of everything, the bridge between life and death. The pressure to know, will the lineage end with me? A question of the selfishness to bring new life into a world I find painful. This dead piglet branded with my own tattoo, the selfishness to choose to pass down traits I am ashamed of. The penis, is represented centrally to illuminate its oxymoronic poetry. An exit, an entry, for love, for pleasure, for life, for waste, for violence. The uncertainty involved in the union of two intensely different sexes, to share an understanding and vulnerability. What it means to be alive, to be a woman and a person.