Kiki Smith - Born

Kiki Smith's work "Born" employs and subverts imagery of nature and femininity. A deer appears to be giving birth to a full-grown woman, who herself is probably capable of motherhood. This strange event speaks to a generative power in nature and in animals and recalls mythological identifications of the "feminine" with nature (Mother Earth). The relationship itself, however, speaks to the unnatural, to mutation, aberration, and distortion. There is an interplay of classical myth and modern scientific potential--after all, cloning and genetic engineering offer the potential for a birth scenario as bizarre as something from ancient Greek myth.