Miami: Solo Exhibition by Amber Hawk Swanson

Amber Hawk Swanson recently spent a month at the Fountainhead Residency in Miami shooting new photography and video work for the exhibition, “To Have, To Hold, and To Violate: Amber and Doll” opening May 10,  7-11pm at Locust Projects in conjunction with the Wynwood Art District Second Saturday gallery walk and closing June 28, 2008.

For the exhibition, Amber Hawk Swanson commissioned the production of a life-like sex doll, a RealDoll, made of a posable PVC skeleton and silicone flesh, in her exact likeness. Together with Amber Doll, Hawk Swanson disrupts the social codes of ritualized spaces by inserting her sexually available silicone replica into wedding receptions, tailgating parties, sorority houses, and theme parks. Complicating the viewer’s position of voyeur in each scene is the presence of Hawk Swanson’s romantic partnership with Amber Doll. The intimate relationship she maintains with her doll mirrors that of many male RealDoll owners’ relationships to their female dolls. Hawk Swanson toys with notions of repulsion, desire and surrender through a combination of performance, video, and photography.

Drawing upon the ceremonial aspects of gallery settings with a new site-specific installation, visitors are also invited to participate in the observance of Amber Doll’s untimely death in the tradition of funerary rituals for public figures. The artist invites floral tributes as part of an ongoing interaction with the installation. Flowers may be hand-delivered or sent beginning May 8, 2008 c/o Locust Projects, 105 NW 23rd Street, Miami, Florida 33127. Tel 305-576-8570 (Deliveries please note gallery hours, Thursday- Saturday 12-5pm).