The golden carp The golden goose
' .. . the subversive position is a function of the feminine in the subconscious. '
A. J. Meltzer 1988’
A conscious subversion of issues dealing with identity is at the heart of Rachel Apelt's installation, the golden carp the golden goose. The inversions of public issues and private, coupled with the potential for the images and style used in the work to subvert the artist's intent, provide for a fluid and provoking interaction between the viewer and work. Apelt endeavours to straddle social and feminist issues along with questions of a more psychological nature.
The work is structured around myth and fairytale, it is figurative, voluptuous and painted in a sensual, expressive manner suggestive of a folkloric heritage. Using myths to clarify ideas relating to the subconscious self, Apelt addresses fundamental issues of disintegration and re-integration, and at the same time, strikes a blow for women creating a space for themselves to 'be and become'. The installation includes two portraits - one of a younger, the other an older woman – which face into a central wall. These are inscribed and accompanied by motifs of fish and birds respectively, referencing the processes of metamorphosis and creativity, a cycle completed with the reptilian form of the snake. Centrally placed are two large, urn-shaped panels, separated by three smaller square panels. The large panel to the left shows a nubile mermaid-woman, unfolding for all the world like the birth of Botticelli 's Venus. The right-hand panel is painted with an angel, androgynous and struggling to escape the prison of the urn. The narration of faces, figures and their attendant motifs is further enunciated by text which relates to each