Currently on display at the Kondor Art Club is a richly engaging exhibition of images captured by Bee (Filipa Emor) paired with words (mostly) written by Anaïs Nin. Entitled Anaïs Nin – Feelings, Love, Passion, Life, it’s both a highly personal exhibition, forming a tribute to Anaïs and her writings from someone who admires her work, and t the same time an approachable and artistic means of introducing those less familiar with her life, her writing and her influence to all three.
Born in France in early 1903 to Cuban parents, Anaïs Nin is hailed by many as one of the finest writers of female erotica. She was one of the first women known to explore fully the realm of erotic writing, and certainly the first prominent woman in the modern West known to write erotica. Her work in this regard is both rich and deeply complex; she first became aware of erotica literature in the 1920s or 1930s, after she, her first husband, Hugh Parker Guiler and her family moved to Paris in 1924, and her fascination with it grew from there via interests in psychoanalysis, her own emerging sexuality and her explorations of self.
One by one, I read these books, which were completely new to me. I had never read erotic literature in America… They overwhelmed me. I was innocent before I read them, but by the time I had read them all, there was nothing I did not know about sexual exploits… I had my degree in erotic lore.
– The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Volume 1 (1931-1934)
In truth, Nin’s life was complex – she never divorced her first husband, but this did not stop her from marrying again in 1955, this time to actor Rupert Pole (later annulled in 1966 as a result of – essentially – tax complications!), and throughout her life she had multiple affairs and relationships.
Of the latter, the one that influenced her life to the greatest was with American novelist, short story writer and essayist Henry Miller. What started as a friendship grew into a deeply passionate and complex relationship which influenced both Nin’s sexuality and her writing. Nin was also an avid diarist throughout her life, recording her thoughts and feelings daily, reflecting on her growth as a woman, on her sexuality, on her loves and desires.
This desire to give expression spilled over into her relationship with Miller, the two of them sharing intimate thoughts in prose as well as engaging on a heated affair whilst Miller’s wife June (to whom Nin had initially been drawn) was away. Within Anaïs Nin – Feelings, Love, Passion, Life, Bee offers a series of black and white images encapsulating a sense of erotica whilst also offering to illustration Nin’s thoughts, feelings and – as one travels on through the exhibition – her desires for Miller.
Presented with a passage from one of the volumes of Nin’s collected journals or later publications which drew together her writings that focused on Miller and his wife), the images are a marvellous reflection of Nin’s thoughts and emotions, her feelings towards Miller (and also his towards her).
In this, the exhibition appears to be progressive in nature, with the images and texts starting on the left side of entrance to the hall and then proceeding around the inner and outer walls, gradually progressing from Nin’s inner thoughts through to her thoughts on, and exchanges with, Miller (with the images also shifting from singular pieces to those involving couples). Thus Bee weaves a visual journal, if you will reflecting Nin’s thoughts in an intimate and engaging manner.
All told, an emotive, poignant and visually captivating exhibition.
SLurl Details
- Kondor Art Club, Kondor Art Centre (Royal Tea, rated Adult)
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