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Headless Steel

I don’t get excited by sculpture too often. I can feel detached awe for the technical skills required to mold metals, alloy, stone, and wood, but it is rare that I relate to a sculpture or gain a sense of an artist rather than an artisan.

Of all the sculptures at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, MA, Nina Levy’s HeadLong, as pictured on the right and officially here was a stand-out favorite.

Initially, I was occupied by how the naked figure sort of resembled me. I mean, not to make anyone uncomfortable, but if I was nude and made of steel, I’d look sort of like this.

I didn’t see the removed head, which is disproportionate to the comely body, as a “challenge [to] traditional notions of beauty associated with the female form,” as the accompanying text suggests. No, instead I was reminded of times in my life when I was regarded as a female body and not expected to think, feel or speak. I thought of the sculpture as naked, not nude. I wanted to hug her, to take her home and feed her soup, to offer her a sweater.

Posted in Massachusetts.

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