‘mutants’ by raquel paiewonsky © raquel paiewonsky

raquel paiewonsky of the dominican republic is exhibiting her installation ‘mutants’ in the latin american pavilion at the biennale. unknown worlds populated by rare species and different races make their appearance in ‘mutants’. dolls are true hybrids, crosses between ‘a toy and a fetish, between real and pretend, between simulacrum and the fantastic’. they create a metaphor of how our identity is perceived with its polyhedric wealth of facets. these soft-bodied dolls from which the artist has extirpated, reproduced or replaced pieces with sponges and nylon stockings are part of her universe: contorted, deformed, extravagant bodies that address issues such as identity, sexuality, the body, life and death, the human and the animal — bodies, gracious or terrifying, that place the spectators face to face with their own fears and fantasies.

raquel paiewonsky: 'mutants' at venice art biennale 09image © designboom

raquel paiewonsky: 'mutants' at venice art biennale 09image © designboom

raquel paiewonsky: 'mutants' at venice art biennale 09image © designboom

raquel paiewonsky: 'mutants' at venice art biennale 09image © designboom

raquel paiewonsky: 'mutants' at venice art biennale 09image © designboom

raquel paiewonsky: 'mutants' at venice art biennale 09image © designboom

raquel paiewonsky: 'mutants' at venice art biennale 09image © designboom

raquel paiewonsky: 'mutants' at venice art biennale 09image © designboom

raquel paiewonsky: 'mutants' at venice art biennale 09image © designboom