Artist Catalogue

Virtual Exhibition

Ougat

“The word ‘ougat’ is a triggering one, especially for women of colour. We’re conditioned to think it’s something dirty and sexually unacceptable.”

Ougat is an Afrikaans term for someone who is sexually mischievous. This body of work explores the birth of hypersexuality from sexual assault and how one navigates through a society in which eroticism is suppressed, especially for women. Furthermore, directing through the social conditioning of women’s sexual identity and gender roles, society upholds, contrasting sexual liberation and objectification.

This body of work depicts the transition of an innocent child and becoming an adult. Mourning the loss of innocence by assault, and society, particularly the male gaze and the female body, viewing a child as a sexual being before the child themselves are aware of the shift in perspective. Hypersexuality in this context is when one becomes obsessive in making compulsive decisions to undo trauma in an attempt to regain control, even if it brings one no pleasure at all, if anything, can potentially cause more harm.

Bondage is usually seen as an extreme hypersexual act and can be viewed, in fact, as a moment of vulnerability, a power exchange between binder and bounder. It is a metaphor for romance as the rope becomes a means of communication, desexualising the subject. Bondage touches on themes of pleasure and pain, constraint and connectivity, as well as beauty and violence. However, bondage has become plasticised when portrayed in pornography.

This body of work emphasises sensation without feeling. Ambiguous aspects of bondage and the playground exist in this body of work. In many cultures, young women often receive a gift which is usually jewellery or are praised and welcomed into womanhood once they get their periods, as they are now able to reproduce. This body of work speaks to the complexities of control society holds over women in terms of when we can or cannot explore eroticism, which according to Audre Lorde, is usually only encouraged in the service of men. Themes of loss, grief and healing are present in this body of work. This body of work criticises the gender roles and patriarchal society women steer their sexuality through. Looking at things like the orgasm gap, virginity, and many other misconceptions about sexual aspects that affect women in particular.