November in the Arts: Sarah Maple

20 October, 2008
by: Tom Jeffreys

October for me has been about three things: art fairs, the new Saatchi Gallery, and (chiefly) Russian performance pooer Alexander Brener. After his escapades at the ICA, I actually met him at The Future Can Wait. He wasn't particularly friendly, but I managed to get his email address and send him my review. His response was short to say the least, and not overly flattering. Although what he's doing is clearly kind of funny, he doesn't seem like somebody blessed with a great sense of humour.

In fact, humour was pretty thin on the ground throughout October, so thank god then for Sarah Maple, whose debut solo show opened last week at SaLon Gallery and continues until 23rd November. Maple – the winner of 2007's Saatchi / Channel 4 New Sensations prize – has already been compared to Tracey Emin and caused controversy with her wry and bold looks at Islam, feminism, sex and art. And this show looks set to cause a bit of a scandal. Already the Telegraph has reported anger amongst Muslims: expect the red tops to have field day in the coming weeks.

The first thing to point out though is that the works are really funny. There's a woman in a burka sporting a little yellow round badge that says 'I ♥ Orgasms', a painting of Maple in a hijab sucking provocatively on a banana, and a hilarious photograph, again of Maple, this time looking up from a book on Sharia Law, with a look of shock and surprise upon her face: it's almost like something out of a Carry On film.

One of the works most likely to cause controversy is a film entitled Who Would Wood Wank? It was produced in collaboration with Dazed & Confused co-founder Jefferson Hack for fashion photographer Nick Knight's Politcal Fashion project. The film depicts Maple in a studio, dressed in a burka and Dunlop wellies. She cautiously approaches a trolley covered in paints and brushes, looks around, carefully selects a paintbrush, and begins to fondle it. Then, grasping it like a cock, she coats it in white paint and begins to simulate wanking. Hunched over and breathing deeply, her hand moves faster and faster up and down the shaft of the brush. She then applies a deep crimson paint to the brush and carries on.

Periodically the film cuts to clips of Maple in a specially-loaned Dolce & Gabbana dress, furiously wanking off the paintbrush. Eventually, satisfied, Maple slows down, and stops. The last shot is of a plain canvas bearing the question, 'Who decided this was good?' The paint-spattered outfits are now on display in the gallery: there's I Came In This Dress With My Paintbrush Cock (now in a private collection) and I Came In This Burka With My Paintbrush Cock, yours for just £10,000.

Sarah Maple, 'I Love Orgasms', Acrylic and oil on board

After watching the film and having a quick wander round the show, I ask Sarah a few questions about her work.

How have people reacted to Who Would Wood Wank?
Well, it was meant to go on the website (www.showstudio.com) but Nick actually pulled it at the last minute, the day before in fact, because he was worried about a potential backlash. Which is funny because he's normally the one causing all the controversy. He didn't want to be responsible for me getting hurt or anything. But then he changed his mind, so two or three months later we showed it only for a week. And now we're keeping it exclusively at SaLon.

How important is it simply to be shocking or controversial? Is that a deliberate strategy?
Possibly. Shock can be good because it helps to get your point across. But I don't want to be the kind of person who's doing it just for that instant *gasp of shock*. I want my work to have some longevity.

And comedy? How important is comedy in your work?
I like that people find my work funny, but I want people to think about what I'm trying to say as well.

And what is that? Is there a single unifying thought process?
It's hard to pinpoint a single thing because there's so many ideas and so many different elements. But the works primarily came from about two years ago when I was thinking a lot about my cultural identity – my mixed parentage. I was kind of trying to... 'find myself'. I know that sounds really rubbish, and a bit poncey but… I was struggling with the two halves. My dad is British, my mum was born in Kenya, she's a Muslim. And all my life I wanted to be a really good Muslim, but when I grew up I began to think I should embrace my western side as well. Because I am two things and I shouldn't feel guilty about being a western girl.

But I always felt really guilty about it. And so the work is about whether you combine these two things successfully and whether they can work together. I think that's something that you can see in the world at the moment. East and West don't necessarily understand each other. Muslims living over here find it hard to integrate. And a lot of people who are Muslim over here find it hard to keep hold of their identity. So they drift towards the extreme. Likewise, often when people think of Muslims, they get scared and think you're going to bomb them or something. But Islam is such a beautiful religion and it's such a shame that people think that.

What do your parents think of your work?
Err, well because they're my parents (and they love me!) they're worried for me, and my mum is obviously very worried. They're definitely proud of my achievements but she's going to be scared of the backlash. She can't be a 100% happy.

Have they seen the video?
Ha! No! No way. I would do anything to stop them seeing the video…

Sarah Maple, 'Have You Wanked Over Me Yet?' Digital Print, edition 1 of 1, 2008

Before I went to see the show, I was pretty sceptical about Maple's work. I still think some of it is a little crass, but the best pieces really are very funny and surprisingly warm: and they come from someone who is genuine, curious and thoughtful. For some reason, I'm reminded of The Smiths' Vicar in a Tutu:

As Rose collects the money in a canister,
Who comes sliding down the banister?
The vicar in a tutu.
He's not strange,
He just wants to live his life this way.

The contrast between pleasure and austerity is funny and silly and strange. But also deeply personal, brave and very exciting. There may be comedy here, but Maple is no joke.

Click here to read the full transcript of Tom's interview with Sarah Maple.

Click here to find out more about Sarah Maple.
Or click here to find out more about SaLon Gallery.

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