Rolled Up Mats
Polly Penrose, English, born 1976
2015
Archival pigment ink print
Sheet: 40 × 50 in. (101.6 × 127 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Sondra and Charles Gilman Jr., Foundation Fund. Selected by participants in the seminar "Museum Collecting 101": Sarah Alpert, Class of 2021; Cristal De La Cruz, Class of 2022; Ekene M. Duruaku, Class of 2022; Analicia Gonzales, Class of 2021; Grace Hanselman, Class of 2020; Cheron Laughing, Class of 2019; Barbara Yijing Li, Class of 2022; Michael A. Nielson, Tuck Class of 2020; Margot Putnam, Class of 2019; Paulomi Rao, Class of 2019; Kelly Scrima, MALS Class of 2021; Amy Tsai, Class of 2021
Courtesy of the artist and Benrubi Gallery, NYC
2019.62
Portfolio / Series Title
I Was Never Good at Yoga
Geography
Place Made: England, United Kingdom, Europe
Period
21st century
Object Name
Photograph
Research Area
Photograph
Not on view
Label
Rolled Up Mats is part of a series of photographs in which London-based Polly Penrose poses with exercise equipment, combining herself and the objects into hybrid sculptural forms. The series comments on the weight of expectations placed on bodies to conform to society’s standards—and indeed, the physically punishing process of posing often left Penrose bruised and aching. In this photograph, whiteness, femininity, and class intersect, particularly when considered against the backdrop of today’s commercialized wellness industry. And while a nude female back may call to mind the archetype of the seductive Venus or odalisque figure, Penrose subverts this idealization, adapting the archetype of female perfection to picture herself as vulnerable and imperfect. From the 2022 exhibition Embodied: Artist as Medium, curated by Isadora Italia, Campus Engagement Manager
Exhibition History
Embodied: Artist as Medium, Isadora Italia, MALS Class of 2022, Sol LeWitt Wall, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 1–December 17, 2022.
Provenance
Benrubi Gallery, New York, New York; sold to present collection, 2019.
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