Della (Street)

Ann Slavit

Museum of Contemporary Crafts | New York City, New York, 1978.

Slavit’s first Della work (the outdoor counterpart to Della (Waiting). A 50-foot long air-filled vinyl inflatable, suspended over the roof of the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in New York City in 1978. Della, the secretary from the 1960’s TV show Perry Mason who often found the camera’s objectifying focus upon her legs, is shown barred from access to the museum. Instead, she hangs off the building’s edge, as a disembodied pair of commodified female legs on display meant to ensnare the viewer’s passing gaze.
 
‘The exaggeration in scale only serves to fortify this; the perception of towering adults, which reveal how ludicrous the landscape itself can be,’ Slavit says. ‘That’s a constant theme throughout my work.’

© Ann Slavit


© 2024 Virtual Shoe Museum