Alexi Marshall
Soul Vessel, 2024
Ink on Kozuke paper
186 x 96 cm
73 1/4 x 37 3/4 in.
73 1/4 x 37 3/4 in.
Unique
Courtesy of the artist and Brooke Benington
Further images
Part of a diptych with two human figures, Soul Vessel shows a mouthless figure which is an homage to the Cuban large-scale printmaker Belkis Ayon. This work, like the other...
Part of a diptych with two human figures, Soul Vessel shows a mouthless figure which is an homage to the Cuban large-scale printmaker Belkis Ayon. This work, like the other piece in the diptych, references early anatomical illustrations, showing the human body and its parts and their functions. Densely symbolic, the work presents the recurring fruit of the pomegranate, which references fertility, hence the trees growing from it upward and downward from the figure’s knees, and death, symbolised by the fruit’s blood-red juices. The parallel between human and vegetal beings is shown by the roots and branches instead of veins and arteries, and the palms of the hands mimic the patterns of tree rings.
