Surrogates is based on the continuous and silent projection of twenty-seven slides depicting sculptures from the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. These photographs reveal the missing parts, gaps, and traces in the restoration of the ancient statues. These projections of female representations take on meaning and measure through their proximity to photographs of the character of Camille, played by Brigitte Bardot in Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt (1963). In front of the filmmaker’s lens, the actress covers and reveals herself sensually under a red sheet reminiscent of the wet drapery of ancient sculptures. By revealing the femininity of these figures, Amie Siegel comments on the male gaze, its influence, and its obsession with the female body throughout the ages. The artist invites us to dissect and examine this gendered view of a female body fetishized and objectified as an artefact or object. Furthermore, Siegel creates a mise en abyme of two representations of a feminine ideal, one ancient and the other contemporary, where the reproduction replaces the original and attracts the gaze. Finally, by showing specific views of the statues, these slides implicitly echo Contempt’s opening dialogue, in which Camille questions Paul by listing the parts of her body reflected in the mirror.

Text written by Quentin Rose as part of the partnership between the École du Louvre and Lafayette Anticipations – Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin.

Exhibitions