THE REPRESENTATION OF INTERSEX BODIES IN KLONARIS AND THOMADAKI’S MULTIMEDIA PRACTICE

Abstract

The visual representations of intersexuality are inevitably involved in delicate philosophical, social and cultural issues. These images are therefore challenging to the art historian, opening a wide spectrum of methodological questions. From which perspective should these pictures be analyzed? How is it possible to develop a suitable interdisciplinary approach? The multimedia practice of the artist duo Maria Klonaris and Katerina Thomadaki is a very good example of how these issues can be integrated. Two series of works, Cycle des Hermaphrodites (1982-1990) and Cycle de l’Ange (1985-2003), focus on intersexuality, and both question in different ways the problem of the migration of images and ideas. The result is a work which not only addresses concerns of gender and (post-)identity, but also technological, intermedia and interdisciplinary issues related to artistic practices. The aim of this article is to analyze both these cycles in relation to more general theoretical and methodological issues concerning the understanding and interpretation of these kinds of visual representations.