Bonnie Collura: Prince

About

Bonnie Collura’s sculptural installation Prince critiques our culture’s pattern of repeating iconic characters, gestures, and polarizing traits to create heroes. In her ongoing project, Collura interprets the Prince figure as an amalgamation of four archetypal male characters from history, religion, and popular culture: Jesus, St. Sebastian, C-3PO (the droid from Star Wars), and Abraham Lincoln. Four solid, mixed-media sculptures represent each of these individuals as they gesture in response to four translucent counterparts that are made of sewn, silk organza and suspend from the ceiling like gossamer sheaths. By building both their bodies and shedding skins through sewing, the artist aims to rebuke tropes of the heroic male sculptor, as well as constructs that create patriarchal icons.