Dafna Maimon's Abject Art Explores Embodied Symptoms and Leaky Bodies

Dafna Maimon’s artistic exploration delves into the realm of the abject, employing humor and striking imagery to question the separation of mind and body. Her survey exhibition, 'Symptoms,' scheduled for 2025 at Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, showcases pieces such as 'Leaky Teeth,' 'Indigestibles,' and 'Homebody,' all of which investigate themes of bodily pain and symptoms. The video trilogy features characters grappling with physical ailments, mirroring Maimon's personal narrative. In 'Leaky Teeth,' she draws a connection between dental discomfort and leaks in modernist architecture, relating it to her own struggles with back hernia and autoimmune disorders. 'Indigestibles,' initially presented at Helsinki Biennial 2021, reimagined an ammunition cellar as an intestinal passage, challenging societal taboos surrounding mortality and highlighting human vulnerability.