Slugs, Nipples and Bodies: An Interview with Roda
An Interview between Zest Hall Curator, Andreea Pislaru and Artist, Roda.
Allow me to introduce you to Roda, a Greek artist who is currently studying Fashion Design at Nottingham Trent. His practice investigates issues of inequality, greed and power, in a socio-politic cultural context, and his ambition to push limits is revealed by both the concepts and the diverse choice of mediums. The artist’s response to the RL X SHOUT Exhibition unveils an exquisite visual language that intrigues me.
How did you choose your subject for your work ‘Our Bodies’? Were you looking for a specific body?
After having the idea of the photography series I wanted to create, finding a model was the next step. I wasn’t looking for a specific body; I just wanted someone who was feeling confident posing naked with snails on them. I didn’t have a difficult time finding one, since my lovely friend was really excited with the whole idea, and it really matched her energy. The fact that the model was an afab female was even better for my concept, since I wanted to also express my beliefs against the sexualisation of the female breast.
Since you use photography as a medium, would you describe yourself as being a photographer?
Well, I have been taking pictures for the past few years, but I really do not know whether I consider myself a photographer or not. I still do not know much about theory, but I really enjoy photography as an art form, and as a medium to express myself. I believe that I still have much to learn, until I can confidently say that I am a photographer.
I absolutely love what the snails add to the work and how they totally change the way we look at the subject’s body. Could you expand more on the snail symbolism in relation to the gender and sexuality themes explored in your work?
Absolutely! So, a few years ago, I ended up having two snails as pets, so I had to educate myself, in order to properly take care of them. What I found out and really fascinated me is that some snails do not have a sex and they can reproduce just by themselves.
As a queer teenager that was trying to get to know myself more, I was amazed by the idea of the absence of gender, and in my mind I had connected that with snails. Hence, a few years later, after having educated myself about trans and non-binary poeple, I created “Our Bodies”, which shows exactly my thoughts and ideas of that time.
As I said in the description of the artwork, by placing the snails on a female breast, what I aimed to communicate is that regardless of our genitals and how our bodies look, our gender is something more than that, and should not be assumed. Hence, the snails are a symbol of the absence of gender.
Do these images exist as physical objects as well?
Yes! I have printed them for another exhibition back in Greece, and now they are decorating my walls.
You mentioned that ‘Our Bodies’ also addresses female breast sexualisation, which is a subject I am exploring in my practice as well. I find it fascinating how the slug drags the focal point of the breasts and creates tensions between temptation and displeasure. Considering the use of female breasts in your photographs, how do you position yourself against their sexualisation?
Thank you! I really believe that in order to de-sexualise the female breast, it has to be exposed. Exposed to the mainstream media, exposed in public, exposed everywhere. Living in a society where one mostly sees the female breast in sex and porn, I believe that making them seen under other circumstances and settings helps into the de-sexualisation of them.
Why did you choose photography to address these issues? Do you think it adds to the meaning the audience might take from the work?
I definitely believe that the art form that I chose to create my artwork (photography) adds to the meaning of it. However, the driving force that made me choose photography, other than another medium, is the confidence that I feel, working with a camera, but also the editing process, afterwards. The more I think about it, I realise that I couldn’t have expressed my ideas that effectively, if I had chosen another form, such as a collage or a painting.
The background is quite dramatic, which accentuates the seriousness of the themes that you are investigating. What drew you to these colour tones?
I actually thought a lot about the background colours, and I experimented a lot with them, when editing the pictures. I decided to create a dramatic theme in the background, mainly by using shades of grey and dark blue/purple, creating a contrast with the main subject, which is the body with the snails, coloured with bright colours. This colour contrast aims to show our society (background), which unfortunately is far from the ideal one for queer people. This explains the dramatic colour choice of the background, and the bright one, on the body.
Looking at your portfolio, I can notice that you work in series most of the time. Is this related to your interests and topics somehow?
Uhmm, that’s true, I really enjoy working on series artworks. To be honest, I haven’t really thought of it, so I suppose that it comes out naturally when I have an idea that I want to express artistically. Working on series allows me to address the issues that I want, in a complete way, and I can focus on specific parts of each artwork, creating a bigger one.
Where do you take your collage material from?
Literally anywhere. Old magazines, leaflets, kid books, food packaging and newspapers are the ones I use the most. Also, I try to avoid printing imagery to use for my collages, because I like challenging myself to work with what I can find around me.
Inequality and body politics are recurrent themes in your practice, that can be observed both in your photographs and collages. Do you see yourself as an activist? Do you ever feel like your work is meant to make a change?
I’m not sure to be honest. I mean, a lot of my artworks criticize society in a way, and I totally appreciate that. I’m also glad when this make the viewers question the world around them, but I wouldn’t really consider myself an activist. Or maybe, I wouldn’t consider the part of me that makes art an activist. It is complicated in my mind, and even I am struggling to understand what I mean, so bare with me… I guess.
Is there anything that you are working on at the moment? Any plans on extending your current projects?
Lately, my main focus is my uni course (fashion design), but I have quite a few side projects that I’m working on, in my free time. I have been experimenting a lot with film photography, and my goal is to create a zine with my pictures, creating a story. Hopefully, I will be done with this project, within the next few months.
