Maria Cazzato

St. Agatha’s Breasts Dissected

Inspired by: Mixteca-Puebla Artist, Tripod Bowl Justin Walker, Daddy Bruce

hand carved basswood bowls, oil on wood, gold, table sugar

9″ x 9″ x 16″

2024

This piece is an interpretation of the story of St. Agatha, a venerated Christian martyr whose breasts were famously ripped off with tongs. Recasting her breasts as bowls of sugar questions the female body as a vessel of martyrdom. This sculpture situates martyrdom in a contemporary context by examining how women are forced to utilize pain to access salvation. By transforming the breast into a vessel for food, the sculpture portrays self-consumption as a form of penance and considers womanhood as a state of cannibalistic devotion. The female body becomes a holy vessel to be dissected, consumed, and torn apart.

@maria.cazzato.art