Sirens In Greek mythology the three Sirens were dangerous, seductive creatures whose singing could lure sailors onto the rocks and cause shipwrecks. For Homer’s Odysseus the Sirens’ singing begged him to stay with them but he plugged the ears of his sailors with wax and had them tie him to the mast so that they could sail safely by. As it was decreed that the Sirens would die if a ship managed to get past them, as Odysseus did, the Sirens duly threw themselves into the sea. Today the word siren is still used to refer to a woman considered to be dangerously alluring, a temptress, vamp or femme fatale.
Here everyday domestic tools (sponge scourer, washing up brush, dishcloth) are re-presented as ironic fetish objects; things to desire? These kitchen objects have been embellished in subtle ways, rather like when make-up is applied, then posed alluringly in a kitchen window. |