Fashion Symbols with Aynura Maye

Bringing together the opposites

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Abnormal sexual desire, art and Louis Vuitton…

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 Her polka dots are not mere dots:
For her troubled mind dots are female genitals, tentacle-like structures phallus.

About six years ago some concept stores of Louis Vuitton got decorated with sublime and fascinating art works by one of the most renowned Japanese artists Yayoi Kusama. They were so beautiful and enticing that I’d be surprised if high fashion nerds forgot them.

Yayoi Kusama pumpkins with polka dots. Pumpkin by its form is similar to "vessel", the receiver - the female quality. Polka dots symbolize female genital. Photo: the Internet
Yayoi Kusama pumpkins with polka dots. Pumpkin by its shape resembles alchemic “vessel”, the recipient – the female quality, the womb. Polka dots symbolize female genital. Even more subtle here, dots on the pumpkins are arranged in snake-like shape. Besides being a classical symbols of the unconscious, the snake is also an unmistakable symbol of the androgynous nature of the human psyche.  Photo: the Internet
 

A year forward and I am busy with my studies on psychoanalysis, especially Freud’s theory on repression of sexuality in Buenos Aires. The place where I lived was very close to the largest modern gallery in the city called Malba. One day while passing by I see the trees in front of Malba dressed in red with white polka dots – that remarkable signature design I remember from a year ago. Malba was hosting an exhibition of Yayoi Kusama. The trees looked intriguing and beautiful. I resolved to go and see what it is about.

Shoes with phallus. the complimentary detail to red polka dots of Japanese artist who also designed for Louis Vuitton.
Yayoi Kusama shoes with phallus as demonstrated in Malba, Buenos Aires, 2013.  Photo: The Internet

In Museum: polka dots, but also phallus

Next day, I enter Malba and the first impression I have was – God, this is what classical Freudian wish fulfillment of excessive sexual desire and irrepressible conflicting impulses looks like. Interestingly, her polka dots became famous and made it all the way to the world of high fashion and beyond just the way they were. However, another important detail accompanying those dots was so beautifully disguised into unsuspecting snake-like shapes, or tentacles as critics called them, in Louis Vuitton installations and went almost unnoticed – her obsession with phallus. Maybe, for a reason, otherwise that would have been too perverse, who knows. Maybe not. 

 
Chairs covered with phallus, the complimentary detail to red polka dots of Japanese artist who also designed for Louis Vuitton.
Yayoi Kusama art – chairs covered with myriad of phallus exhibited in Malba, Buenos Aires, 2013.
Photo: The Internet

Tentacle-like art and polka dots: penetrator and recipient

Unlike her fashion installations, the view of tentacle-like elements covering every object was more prominent in the exhibition venue. These objects covered the things that we normally use to lay over, sit upon or wear such as sofas, couches, chairs, shirts even shoes. They basically covered everything one can imagine, even pasta, anything that we can touch. The photos with herself covered in dots laying over these thorny sofas decorated the walls.

By now, it is pretty much clear that polka dots all over her, analogous to the genital organs, represent vagina.  On the other hand, everything else that we can touch has grown innumerable phallus. It was a classical portrait of Freudian wish fulfillment of incompatible sexual desire. The vividness with which she depicted her troubled state of mind was chilling. These art works were explosive manifestation of deeply repressed conflicts. The curiosity took me to study her life. In some places she talks openly about her revulsion to sex. Maybe, it rooted in her troubled childhood experiences of the relationship between her parents too.

So her art, to me, was basically free ride of deeply conflicting urges. On one side, her revulsion of sex, on the other side, her strong desire for it. On top of all, she had to numb this internal storm against the backdrop of strict social frame. It feels like, it has been too much to stomach and at some point, she has let it go.

Obsession – Morbid dark impulses in psyche

It seems she had full divine experience in dots and phallus, she felt the creative power of universe in them. Here comes to mind Indian Gods Shiva and Shakti. However, her experience was reverse, regressive and destructive. Instead of leading them towards a fruitful and meaningful experience, she became overwhelmed by them. She lived it not in the form of celestial experience, but as morbid obsessive forces chasing her to insanity. She kind of talked about it openly through art and this is what she labels as “obsession” – let it be her phallus chair, mirror rooms or dotted pumpkins – automated instinctual impulses that tend to magnify, augment and overwhelm. 

Sexuality and Spirituality – why are the same thing in the depth of our mind? – Read this post to see why Kusama’s art made me think of God Shiva and Goddess Shakti

2. The Unconscious – the Great Mother

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Before reasoning jumps in, the unconscious readily presents tone of decision based on likes, dislikes, preferences, attitudes and biases formed through our previous memories.

These days I dream a lot about shoes. Not that I am a shoe addict (I am definitely not a shopaholic), but one day I keep dreaming that I wear a fancy, high-heel shoe, which fails me just at the first traffic light, next day I dream a bunch of loafers and espadrilles and I wonder whether I should wear them and which one. Now, I understand that if such dreams happen as a series, it is about something that really matters to me.  Also, I understand that these dreams are not about physical shoes, for in the unconscious different types of shoes would mean “different walks in life”. Rather than talking about shoes, the dream talks to me about the hesitations I am having right at that moment about which path I should choose and which ones I just can’t because of my life situation.

Design by Alexander McQueen. An example of what kind of feeling associations and connotations a basic object like shoe can obtain in unconscious. These are not mere shoes, they are manifestation of troubled mind possessed by morbid impulses.
Alien Heels – Design by Alexander McQueen. An example of what kind of feeling associations and connotations a basic object like shoe can obtain in the unconscious.
Photo: Internet

This is a very silly sample, but I think dream is the easiest way to make transition into the unconscious. Because dreams are our only direct contact with the unconscious, which talks to us through feeling associations. Down there everything is irrational. The heroes of the domain are feelings, emotions, instincts and urges that rule and decide everything, including our “rational” decisions.

Irrational “rationality”

To make my point, I’ll give some everyday examples. These examples are patterns of behavior, which we do repeatedly and mindlessly without giving much thought to how they happened.

Usually deep waters in dreams and visions represent unconscious. If water is dark or wavy, it is not a good sign.
Usually deep waters in dreams and visions represent the unconscious. If water is dark or wavy, it is not a good sign. Photo: Unsplash.com

For example, power of smell. When shopping, we tend to decide on a perfume that evokes some inexplicable warm and nostalgic memories. Over and over we return to give credit to our gut feelings and first impressions. Because after a long rational trial we realize they were right. Cases when our tongue pops out that most inappropriate thought that we were trying to hide a second ago. Many times when we do not like someone and block her at every opportunity. But when we want to judge our attitude, it becomes clear that our attitude has nothing to do with personality of that person. We do not like him/her just because she has something that we wish to have, or she reminds us someone we do not like.

The list may go on, this is just to show how “utterly irrational” motives form the basis for our “rational decisions”. These motives spring from deep down and act faster than our reasoning. Actually, they set the tone for our “rational” decisions. How?

It turns out, behind all these “machinations” is the mysterious unconscious, the master that cooks up all the moods, feelings, attitudes and prejudices which make up the “invisible base” for all the “rational decisions”.  Then the consciousness brags about “being free”.

The Unconscious – Mysterious Master

Below the threshold of the consciousness, our little tiny dwelling, where we keep our thoughts and ideas neat and organized, lies the unconsciousness.  In this ages old chaotic abode black is not black only and white is not white only anymore. Black is black and white at the same time. Duality of our worldly reality ceases to dictate life here, memories gain upper hand. They are lumped up together in vague shapes based on feeling associations (like in my dream – shoe is not only shoe, but representation of “walk” in broad sense). They prompt emotions, not reason. And memory is no joke.

Biologically we are wired to use impressions from previous memories as precursor to avoid dangers. This system has been in place for ages to guide us, animals with kind of complex emotional and feeling system. So, before reasoning jumps in, the unconscious readily presents tone of decision based on likes, dislikes, preferences, attitudes and biases formed through our previous memories.

The reasoning of consciousness is razor-sharp, is unicorn. However, its capacity is limited only to “reasonable facts”.  On the other hand, the unconscious has a further reach. It perceives and registers everything else that is irrational and cannot be reasoned or arrived at by reasoning. Yet is essential to how we think, perceive, behave and experience life. Besides, consciousness is a comparatively newly acquired skill. It has kind of specialized in analysis of cold facts. By now it should be pretty much clear why our emotions and feelings become ruling force behind our reasoned and “rational” decisions. Reasoning is the most precious treasure of humankind, no doubt about that. However, the unconscious is the container of ages old wisdom and germs of future life. It rules our lives in ways that is beyond our capacity to fully comprehend.

Our lives wrapped in rituals

Do we ever look at our lives and wonder how much we have surrounded our lives with rituals while boasting our rationality? They are so ingrained in our lives that we even do not realize it. Celebration of birth, adolescence, graduation, marriage, funeral etc. I am not even getting close to the most important holidays that as a rule are religious meanings of which we mostly do not understand.  Not to mention love and fame the Disney classics have harnessed just because they are based on fairy tales (the eternal stories of the unconscious). It is hard to accept that we are still busy with rudimentary play games of archaic man, but as it turns out we really are.

A bit further…

To dig a bit deeper, I am sure, like myself, there are many people who are just unable to give proper meaning through reasoning to obviously irrational language of religious texts. Especially, human-like personal Gods in Abrahamic religions. Where do they come from? From God? Then why God didn’t create just one prophet and one religion to save humanity from killing each other along the centuries in the name of sacred war?

Let it aside, when one reads lives and deeds of prophets, one realizes that they do not sound much different from schizophrenic hallucinations (judging by occidental medicinal lexicology coined by consciousness). I am referring to all envoys and saviors from Buddha to Jesus to Muhammad. So, maybe a change of perspective would solve this puzzle. Maybe their messages do not come from without, but spring from within, the depth of our psych. Interestingly, each savior is “adapted” and reflects traits of the local culture. Also, all the saviors are men. Even if there were a parallel life out there, the unconscious is the medium through which we would be communicated.

The Unconscious – Great Mother; The Conscious – Confident Kid

At some point in history the consciousness has differentiated itself. This divided our psyche roughly into two parts – consciousness and the unconsciousness. The first part takes care of our rational life and reasoning, our direct contact with the outer world. The second part is responsible for our basic instincts, memory deposit, our experience and feel of life through adding color and meaning to the gray reality of rationality.

Consciousness likes to separate, to divide until the last divisible particle to understand. It is like an over-confident kid who thinks he knows all and needs no advice. Everything that goes through the filter of reasoning loses color of emotions. Yet take away our feelings, emotions, fears and desires, what is there to live? Numbers and cold-faced calculations only? The cold fact that we were born to die after just couple of decades? Why even we are to live then? This is where the unconscious comes in. It is like a wise mother who sees the whole picture not parts.

Souls in Search

In other words, our lives in a sense are in darkness through which our souls are looking for their ways. The Unconscious, the container of innumerable years of memory is there to shed light to our ways through what we call traditional wisdom manifested in the form of religions, myths and fairy tales. But it doesn’t stop there. Its creative energy manifests itself in our quest to attain full potentiality of our lives, move forward and elevate our souls. We call it “fulfillment”. Yet such fulfillment is possible through bringing in terms these two separated parts of the psyche. Alienating any one of them would cost us a serious loss – either losing our ties with our inner guide or our physical contact with outer world.