Chad McCail
b. 1961, England
I made Act of Love as part of my continuing interest in sexuality and power, which has been largely guided by my reading of the work of the psychologist Wilhelm Reich. Like Freud, he takes the sexual function to be the prime factor in the construction of personality. Reich developed the idea of a sexual economy with sexual desire as a kind of ever-flowing spring whose contents, if not frequently released in acts of love, create a malignant tension which distorts personality and perception. Reich suggests that people who give themselves to one another and to the experience are capable of releasing all the accumulated sexual tension. They are consequently clear-headed, alert and kind. Their perception is not distorted by sexual frustration, and they don’t find themselves deliberately or inadvertently hurting others as a result. A group of such people would form a strong and respectful community, capable of overcoming difficulties together and unwilling to tolerate cruelty or injustice. It would probably develop a reverential attitude towards other species and a sophisticated and harmonious culture.
Power always seeks to divide those over whom it is exercised. It is successful to the extent that it can make people opaque to one another. Historically disturbing and distorting, the sexual function has been its fundamental strategy. I am looking for images around which something might build which can resist the kind of alienation that the exercise of power creates. I know the pictures might be offensive to some, but I hoped they might stimulate some discussion.
(Text: OPEN e v + a catalogue, 2005)
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