Hoda Tawakol
Mother Dragon
Year: 2024
Material: Textile, tinsel, sewing thread
Dimensions: 290 x 80 x 15 cm (no filling)
Edition: Unique
The body is an in-between space. Free, untamed and disciplined, hidden, on display, bound by gender norms or fluid, detached, and sometimes powerful. I grew up with three mothers. All three had ample bodies that were warm, heavy, and uprooted. Their bodies, which served as the belly of a ship in the diaspora, shaped my fragmented perception of the feminine, identity, and motherhood. I wanted to create the overwhelming, oversized maternal body as a dragon and make it float above our heads. A mix of female curves, nursing breasts, an oversized bodysuit, the faint trace of an escaped stripper, or the second skin of a giantess – this is how the dragon hovers above us. The images created are ambivalent. The mother, protective and nurturing, simultaneously appears threatening, distant, and perhaps even capable of devouring one. These aspects of motherhood and femininity are an important part of my work, recurring and deeply embedded in the human psyche, regardless of time and culture. I explore this ambivalence and engage with the feminine. (Text: Hoda Tawakol)
Hoda Tawakol (*1968 in London, lives in Hamburg) studied Fine Arts with Andreas Slominski at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg. Her works were recently part of exhibitions at the Georg Kolbe Museum (2024), nGbK Berlin (2024), Museum for Art in Wood, Philadelphia (2023), and Kunsthalle Schirn, Frankfurt am Main (2020). In 2023, the Dortmunder Kunstverein showed her first institutional solo exhibition in Germany.
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This year, as a homage to the rebellious power of the wind, we are presenting kites designed by nine artists. These will be showcased, flown, and subsequently offered as Jahresgaben during the anniversary celebration of the Dortmunder Kunstverein on November 30, 2024. The project was developed in collaboration with the artist Moritz Englebert, kindly supported by Stellfeld & Ernst GmbH.