Julia Krahn, PETTICOAT – KYRIE ELEISON
Petticoat is a work about immigration. The protagonist is the artist herself: her body is in a pose poised between Our Lady of Mercy and Our Lady of Humility. The song that Krahn sings in her native language is a penitential act in the Christian tradition.The text describes the distress of the pregnant Mary, who has to pass through a forest of thorns. It is a song of pain and hope, a tribute to the mothers and refugees arriving in Europe. At the end of the song, the artist lifts her skirt, the doves, the sacrificial symbol par excellence, give up the protection of her long dress and, frightened, sometimes stained with blood as a reminder of the suffering endured by man, finally soar free.
THE ARTWORK
Petticoat – Kyrie Eleison, photograph applied on wall, 2015