The French expression "Trouver chaussure à son pied" born in the XVIth century means today that we find what we need but its sense was formerly different. It
was a question of symbolizing metaphorically both sexes by meaning the contents and the packaging. In other words, this expression meant finding the adequate marital
partner.
Respecting literally this expression by making reference to the notions of contents and packaging, the sculpture
consists of 2 parts: the female part (Yoni: the place), multicolored circular target hollowed out in the center to receive the male part (Lingam, a column of phallic appearance representing the
god Shiva), crossed by black geometrical forms and fluorescent pink.
The point of view of the psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim on the famous "glass slipper", gives all its sense to this sculpture: so that the test is convincing (to try the shoe), the shoe must not stretch, otherwise it could suit every other girls, like the half-sisters, for example. It is not an accident if Perrault chose glass slippers... A small receptacle where a part of the body can be kept and squeezed must be the symbol of the vagina. And if it is made with a fragile material which can break if we force it, we think immediately of the virginal membrane; and an object which gets lost easily at the end of a ball refers to the virginity[1].
Mai Tabakian
