We Are Also the Universe

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The wall label next to vanessa german’s Self Portrait with the Universe in my Mouth sculpture is poetry. From March 27 to September 1, 2024, german—a multi-disciplinary, self-described citizen artist who writes, sculpts, photographs, performs, ritualizes—is sharing two of her "power figures" in MoAD’s Unruly Navigations group exhibition curated by Key Jo Lee. From the get-go, german’s voice is clear as she weaves together a list of deeply descriptive and personal mediums: "Old paintbrushes, drugstore mirror, wood, angst, AstroTurf, anger, rage." german's poem interthreads everyday found materials seen in the power figure and the emotions that went into creating it, mixing physical objects with the (typically) unseen. This duality between the visible and the invisible emphasizes german’s creative model for social healing as well as the viewer’s role in facilitating this change.

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Standing in front of the assemblage, I am first drawn to the headpiece of "old paintbrushes" on top of the sculpture. They stand tall, and the bristles create a soft curve above the sculpture. The rainbow of paint on these brushes is caked and peeling, and the satiny metal ferrules make the brushes look like a crown atop the figure's head. german's "old hair braids wrapped in bakery box twine" flow down from this headpiece, almost touching the AstroTurf-covered gold plinth below. The center of the sculpture’s being is the off-kilter cross of the "porcelain bathtub knob reading, 'hot'"; this small knob reminds me of a heart or a bellybutton, carrying with it a sense of lightness, fragility, and warmth. The bright white ceramic knob stands in stark contrast to the inky "feathers from a bird who did not consent to being sold in a craft store" covering the rest of the figure’s torso. Despite the material lightness of the feathers, the sculpture is weighed down by the memory and remnants of these once-free birds.

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The tension that underlies the artist’s autobiographical navigation displays german’s lasting interest in exploring her personal narrative. Audiences get another glimpse of this navigation in german’s other self-portrait THE BEAST, or Self Portrait, an assemblage piece on view at the Wichita Art Museum. The sculpture stands tall with a glass head and long, rainbow arms that rest palms-up on two wooden chairs. The body of the figure is matte black with hot pink nipple-like shapes, and black bead trim cascades down from the figure’s shoulders. THE BEAST focuses on the societal messages german received about her body as she was growing up; it plays on the positive and negative connotations of the word "beast" (something evil and scary as well as something strong, skilled, and dominant) to highlight the fluctuations within the artist’s self-perception. Self Portrait with the Universe in my Mouth interfaces with THE BEAST, revealing how german’s representative power figures sway between fear, acceptance, and love.

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This acceptance is abundantly clear in the form and message of Self Portrait with the Universe in my Mouth. The rainbow, beaded trim arms reach out towards the viewer, seeming to welcome us to step closer and hug her. The power figure exudes this warmth and wholeness, tension and movement, energy and pressure, vulnerability and strength without having a face; instead of a visage with pronounced facial features, german has placed a small "drugstore mirror" in the center of the head. The viewer is reflected in the face, the viewer is in the mouth – they are the universe. german highlights the role of the viewer and asks them to participate in this self-portrait, testing the boundaries of the relationship between the artist and the observer by insisting that viewers look at themselves. This use of the mirror as the face in the self portrait pulls our attention to the idea of consent in exhibition; german highlights that the birds did not consent to having their feathers displayed and makes a parallel statement in not showing her face. Inmixing the seen and the unseen in her art label poem, german asks her viewers to search for the invisible in themselves. What emotions made this? What experiences shaped me? What is unseen? To fully understand vanessa german through her self-portrait, we must stand in front of her work, look at, and accept the love and energy she infuses into her poetry and sculpture. Just as the viewer gains understanding of the artist by looking deeper and reading the poem on the museum label, the viewer better understands themself and the universe by standing before Self Portrait with the Universe in my Mouth.

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