/Jennifer L. Levatino
Jennifer Levatino
Princess XI
human and synthetic hair, deer antlers
8″ x 3.5″ x 13″
2023
This series developed as I imagined a world in which cellular mutations happen on a large scale to tangible and recognizable organisms. These juxtapositions of hair and horns are made harmonious through intricate interweaving and placement- they come into being by living together. Taking cues from the hairstylists of Ancient Rome, braids are sewn, woven and wrapped around their animal appendages. Forms and gestures are informed by creatures who inhabit or infest habitats on land or at sea. These surrealistic configurations express aspects of symbiotic relationships and elevate the common elements that bind us.
@jlev26
Jennifer Levatino
Hirsute Queen Flaxen
synthetic hair, swaledale sheep horn, cement plinth
34” x 6” x 6”
2022
Through the Keratin Series, I am creating my own species- that has evolved by paring down visual information to get to essential visual and symbolic connections between animal and human forms. My sculptures spawned from various influences including the theories and discovery associated with Symbiogenesis, the hairstyles donned by women represented through Roman portrait sculpture and the animal remains I have collected over a lifetime on various excursions through the Yorkshire Moors and across the bogs of Connemara. These surrealistic configurations elevate the common elements that bind us and the fact that we are all made of the same gore.
@jlev26