Mia Chaplin | Intimacy, Violence and Vulnerability

Mia Chaplin (b.1990) is a celebrated artist in the South African art community renowned for her striking impasto artworks. Her pieces depict the fem-form in intimate embraces conveying intimacy, vulnerability, sensuality with a subtle nod to the persistent violence inflicted on the feminine body in South African society.

 

 

 

In a sit down discussion, Chaplin addresses how the male gaze disrupts the true meaning behind her expansive skinscapes, the journey that brought her to their conception and how it’s all, at its core, about ownership.

 

Chaplin’s path to the tactile and visceral realms of painting and sculpture began well before her Michaelis education (the University of Cape Town’s School of Fine Art). Raised in an environment of strong and powerful women- a social worker mother and 3 sisters- Chaplin experienced the beauty and the harsh reality of South Africa’s treatment of women. Her mother’s job allowed Chaplin to see all facets of the female experience in a country that was plagued by gender-based violence- comradery, community and vulnerability. This exposure led Chaplin to focus her body of work on the female form.

 

 

The words Chaplin uses to describe the thematics of her work are indicative of womanhood in South Africa: danger, strength, unbounded, impending violence, courage, support. The fragmented hues of turquoise and burnt umber paint tell a story of dismantling a patriarchal system and reframing the female nude. It is in the haze of the body that one may truly feel the importance of sisterhood.

 

Regrettably, the profound meaning of Chaplin’s work is at times lost, revealing the darker side of South African art society. The trivialisation of her art through comments of ‘wink-wink, nudge-nudge, orgy, sex scene’ highlights the perverse and pervasive issue within the male-dominated art scene. It’s not unique to Chaplin and her art making; it’s not even unique to women artists who paint the female nude- it’s a universal experience to all women and those identifying as such.

 

 

 

The male gaze on female form and its sexuality is often seen as taboo or erotic, voyeuristic or distasteful. Coined by Laura Mulvey in her seminal essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” (1973), the ‘male gaze’ refers to the prioritization of the male point of view on the feminine body. The hyper-sexualisation of women is prominent in film, relationships and fashion, evident in every perfume advertisement and James Bond film. The harm it causes is significant and perpetuates the idea of women as an object, a stain on modern society despite numerous attempts to reform it.

 

Combating the narrative of the ‘woman as object’, Chaplin’s imagery conveys ownership. It is in her seas of bodies that she portrays sensuality and safety. Even in her depictions of masturbation, Chaplin tells the story of self-soothing and comfort in a complicated, beautiful and violent world. Her works are not performative, they are depictions of vulnerability and softness- the viewer, a voyeur only to the intimacy of her subjects.

 

Chaplin is represented by WHATIFTHEWORLD gallery. To read more, click here.