The Soda Can Torso, in a swimsuit, was my second creation, while working on a project with my art mentor, Ilhaam Stolof. I want to clarify that the point of my art was not art therapy but that art can always be therapeutic to the artist and viewer.
My brief was to make art daily for a month using everyday objects or trash to ‘stretch’ my creativity beyond my comfort zone. Here is the first in this series: Friday Art Studio: My Expressive Art – balloon figurine.

Would you make art from a soda can?

The day before I had created this assemblage, if asked, I would have said ‘absolutely not, and I am not interested.’ Yet my mentor had opened my mind to viewing anything as a possibility for art. I am pleased to share these images in this series as I feel it is time to acknowledge the struggles and pain as we live with our bodies: for those misshapen by amputations and surgeries; those who feel not good enough physically; dis-morphia; and those who want to acknowledge the struggles of somebody else; as well as others who I’ve not mentioned.

Style

This art piece: Soda Can Torso, in a swimsuit: is both statement art and an assemblage. I also borrowed from Abstract Expressionism and Pop art. Although my art was made in 2017 abstract expressionism was in late 1940s–1950s and pop art was in 1950s–1960s.

When considering the torso as assemblage art, and comparing it to installation art, it’s a small version of installation art which normally takes up the whole room. The scale of the torso is small enough to fit in a box on a book shelf. It is immersive in the way it invites one to handle and view it from a close and personal way; whereas an installation takes up the whole room and one is invited into the room to immerse oneself, almost like spectators in a theater.

Influences

Abstract Expressionism

• As with Abstract expressionism my idea was to look within and express my inner feelings and thoughts, as well as express the universal feelings of internal suffering.
• In this work the style is abstract and focused on the physical act squashing the soda can.
• The crushing action was the crux of creating the image of destruction, and it’s consequences, and it can be seen as the physical expression of pain.

Pop Art

• As with Pop art the core idea was to use everyday objects and commercial products.
• The style: Bright green and pink; using one bold graphic line (LITER)
• The purpose was not the same as pop art: my purpose was to stretch beyond my comfort zone; as well as to use an everyday object to express my inner space and portray the universal feelings of pain. Pop art often aimed to make fun. Although my purpose was not strictly in line with pop art, by using the soda can, I was making fun of the beverage can corporations offering to make us lighter through declaring it is LITE. We are duped into thinking the can offers us a healthier happier, life style.

Description

• Size: 12 cm tall
• Colour: sea green and pink
• Subject: free standing, female, squashed torso
• Identifiable shapes: cylindrical
• Material: mixed media: aluminum and paper
• Patterns, textures and markings: texture is smooth and logo is LITER
• Expressive figurative sculpture
• Site: private collection

Execution of image: Soda Can Torso, in a swimsuit.

As I tidied up the lounge I picked up a soda can and instantly had an idea. I twisted it. It became a ‘shapely’ battered form of a woman’s body. ‘This is it bit like me,’ I thought. I had gone through the wringer when I had breast cancer and had my double mastectomy. Not only was it a really painful ordeal but it left me misshapen according to female body expectations. I did have breast reconstruction but I was made two sizes smaller on top. Most women will know what that means when I say I went from hourglass shape to pear shape. None of my clothes fitted me again. I had to adjust to buying different styles or altering my clothes so that I felt comfortable and feminine once more. For a long time I really struggled emotionally and mentally. The glib thing people said to me was ‘yes but be grateful; you are still alive.‘ And that is absolutely true. There isn’t a day when I am not thankful for my life. I am grateful for each extra day I receive but that doesn’t mean I didn’t struggle through the adjustment of the change and the rollercoaster of thoughts and feelings. Added to it was ‘survivor’s guilt’ of losing a sister-in-law and a friend, at the same time, to cancer. I felt guilt for surviving and struggling. So I resonated with the squashed, mutilated soda can. I collaged coloured paper to enhance the shape of the swimsuit and added the letter R to create the word LITER. The irony of the soda being LITE when society expects us to be as light as possible. (I support healthy eating and healthy weight but I am aware of those who feel the pressure to be as skinny as possible). As a teenager I weighed 48kg and was 168cm tall (106 lbs and 5 foot 6 inch) manipulating my weight to be just skinny enough not be sent to hospital for anorexia. It is a terrible mindset to be caught up in and live with. That’s the result of societies’ expectations on young and old which leaves one feeling not good enough and unacceptable. This Soda Can Torso becomes an effigy of self-hate and the ‘squashing’ is akin to all the ‘hammering’ one gets from social media and cultural expectations.

The aim of this assemblage (torso) is to commemorate the ordinary person struggling with a universal struggle such as dis-morphia, surgery, mutilation and weight issues. The ‘torso’ is usually use to celebrate historical figures, rulers, ancestors, or deities.

It was a surprisingly quick project yet it was a powerful experience. As I have mentioned before, my art becomes my teacher as well as a personal expression of me. Art is also an opportunity to be a conduit for healing for others and oneself. It felt like I had concretized the sad feelings and the struggle. The Soda Can Torso embodies the struggles of those trying to live up to societies standards and becomes a symbol and a container for all ‘heavy’ struggles.

Maybe it is a symbol, effigy or container for some of your struggles too.

~Morag Noffke~