Muttertier, 1998

About the Work

Muttertier is permeated with contradictions in many ways. The hybrid being emerges luminously from the dark background yet seems at the same instant to disappear into it once again. The breasts of the ape-like figure are vividly emphasised: animalistic, erotically charged. With just as much complexity as in the title of the work, which conveys the ambivalence of the role of woman as mother, Miriam Cahn calls gender roles into question: she deconstructs the social image of the woman, thematises sexuality and the (female) body, and ultimately raises questions as to her own identity.