From The Dew of Heaven | Isabella Catenaro
From The Dew of Heaven is the solo exhibition of emerging Meanjin artist Isabella Catenaro. Produced by Next Door Ari, this exhibition can be enjoyed for the next two weeks at Boxcopy, South Brisbane.
The striking feature of this exhibition is the contaminated purity of the colour white and its use of religious references to speak about queerness.
When I arrived, the first thing that caught my attention was the intense smell of frankincense which pulled me into the space where Isabella seemed busy neatening up. They interrupted what they were doing and showed me the tiny ovary-shaped glasses containing the essential oils and told me the story of the Magi who brought precious gifts to Jesus. While I was listening to their story, I was observing their dress; my brain was trying to make sense of that revealing pure white satin dress contaminated by black platform shoes, black armpit hair, and a black afro-style head. I was part of Isabella’s Eucharistic performance on the profane as sacramental “conflating the abject-queer-uncanny impiety of the artist’s body with the purity of Christ,” as Isabella put it.
Images supplied.
Political art works best when it takes you into a journey that challenges your truths by making you experience the world differently. This is how Isabella’s art questions the binary of gender and rigid moral positions. The white space of the exhibition and the softly spoken voice of Isabella create a safe uncomfortable space where people can experience the abject queer subject, just to realise how normal it is after all. In the interview, Isabella stressed that they want to create a space where the queer subject can exist and be expression of human diversity rather than a “threatening other to normal” society. After all, the beauty of life is its diversity and there is much violence in conformity.
As a person who grew up in Italy where the moralism of Catholicism operates as the background noise of society, this exhibition spoke to me loudly. Isabella’s parents are Italian and grew up Christian. Just like myself and many others like us, Isabella was taught the good and bad through the parables of religion. The rigidity of moral teachings can breed negative attachments in the form of repression or rebellion. Instead, Isabella challenges this rigidity with a creative spirit. They don’t negate it; they put it on the table and dissect it with kindness, generosity, and vulnerability. Isabella lays their authentic self on the Eucharistic altar and let people come close to their queerness to show the softness, gentleness, and humanity that can be in it. This is how Isabella allows people to connect with queerness in an unthreatening way that can be transformative.
I would recommend people who visit the exhibition to speak to Isabella about their work. The best way to enjoy their work is to be part of Isabella’s Eucharistic performance of the sacred profane. I was completely taken by Isabella’s eloquence and fascinating way of contaminating sacred stories with the profane.
