'BIRD IN A
GILDED CAGE'
Mixed media
corset, life size, made from 'gilded' chicken wire, plastic, ribbon, feathers,
beads and paint.
In my series of
bodices and corsets, I want to explore this controversial article of clothing, which has been around for
centuries, sometimes hiding
and often enhancing the breasts, depending on the fashion and the mores of the
day. Once seen as an instrument
of torture, imprisoning the female form, a corset can also offer freedom from
holding your tummy in, and cinch the waist like no gym routine could ever
do! Originally underwear, today the
corset is now very much outerwear, with fashion designers reintroducing it
every couple of years, creating contradictory emotions in women. Love it or hate it, this contentious garment
gives wonderful scope for creativity and ambiguity in both the world of
fashion, and also art.
Each corset and bodice in the series expresses a different idea.
My 'Bird in a Gilded Cage' sculpture is a play on the words of the
popular song from 1900, 'She's only a bird in a gilded cage' composed by Arthur
J. Lamb (lyrics) and Harry von Tilzer (music), which
reportedly sold more than two million copies in sheet music! I wanted to illustrate the song, as the lady
in question would most certainly have worn a corset. In the gilded corset her trapped heart has
wings, but she cannot fly away, only look at her image in the mirror like an
exotic bird in a cage. Also, in England,
'bird' is a slang word for a young woman or girlfriend, giving further wordplay,
as this corset can be worn and is a size 12.
Here are the words to the chorus of the song, the last line of which is
the title of the corset.
A
beautiful sight to see,
You
may think she's happy and free from care,
She's
not, though she seems to be,
'Tis
sad when you think of her wasted life,
For
youth cannot mate with age,
And
her beauty was sold,
For
an old man's gold,
She's a bird in a gilded cage.
Rosemary Cassidy Buswell, January 2012.
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