摘要：Leora Farber (born 1964) is a South African
artist working within a feminist theoretical
framework. The imagery and textures of Farber's
works are suggestive of skin and, in many
instances, raw flesh and dismembered body
parts, but created with such intricate beauty
and sensuousness that they often evoke in
viewers a simultaneous reaction of both allure
and revulsion. Hazel Friedman, in her review of
the Instrumental exhibition (1997),1 describes it
as 'nauseating and alluring ... perversely
beautiful ... both seductive and repellent'.
Joan Bellis (1998:44) also offers an ambivalent
reaction when she explains how `the hand
goes out to touch and stroke what is undoubtedly
beautiful and seductive, while at the
same time one feels horror ± a visceral
revulsion but also an empathy'. The works thus
disrupt the viewing process through horror and
ambivalence without being so unpleasant
that one cannot look at them. This facilitates
the re-evaluation of identity and gender
construction, which is the main focus of
Farber's work.
