“Nicola L. Explores the Complex Contradictions of Womanhood”
# Nicola L.: Exploring the Dualities of the Female Body Through Art
LONDON — Nicola L.’s sculptures and installations, currently on display at the Camden Art Centre in the exhibition **”Nicola L.: I Am the Last Woman Object”**, transcend being mere objects. They are vivid explorations of the human body, gender, and social dynamics, presented with raw emotional intensity and conceptual rigor. Throughout her extensive career (from the 1960s until her death in 2018), Nicola L. succeeded in confronting the intersections of objectification, playfulness, and empowerment, particularly in how these ideas relate to femininity.
## Art Beyond the Paywall
Before diving deeper into Nicola L.’s art, it’s worth noting that this review is accessible to all readers without encountering the increasingly prevalent online paywall. Publications like *Hyperallergic*, which champion the democratization of art and culture, rely on voluntary support from readers to maintain their independence — a fitting parallel to Nicola L.’s work, which often breaks away from societal conventions. Readers, just like viewers of her art, are invited to engage deeply without barriers. As an extension, *Hyperallergic* has long encouraged fans to support their mission to keep art journalism free and accessible, much like Nicola’s encouragement of interaction in her installations.
## Breathing Life Into Hollow Bodies
At the heart of Nicola L.’s practice are her notable *Pénétrables* — a sculptural series from circa 1960–2018. These wearable, hollow sculptures often resemble human “skins,” boasting openings for viewers to insert their arms or legs and bring the forms to life. Both soft and sagging, these flexible bodies evoke immobile objects until viewers intervene with their own bodies or presence. Yet the experience of stepping inside her forms presents a frisson of conflicting emotions: what was once lifeless becomes startlingly alive, humorous, yet slightly horrific.
Nicola L.’s *Pénétrables* emphasize the physical and metaphysical qualities of the human body. They blur the lines between viewers and the artwork itself, forcing interaction and evoking strong reactions — delight, discomfort, and even disgust. At the Camden Art Centre, conservation rules prevent visitors from touching the original works, but a large recreation of her famed “Fur Room” (1970/2020) invites touch and playful exploration.
## The *Fur Room*: A Space of Comfort and Discomfort
Nicola L.’s *Fur Room*, part of this exhibition, is a peculiar space within a space — a cubic armature ensconced in plush, purple faux fur. The walls, floor, and ceiling are lined with soft “skins” that visitors can interact with: arms, legs, and faceless balaclava-like masks protrude from every which way, practically begging for playful engagement with their fluffy expanse.
Touching the fur, pushing hands and bodies into its folds, is an act that blurs the boundary between comforting and unsettling. On one hand, the experience is reminiscent of the cozy and familiar, like nestling into comfortable pajamas. On the other hand, there’s a palpable discomfort: the fear of sweat, dirt, or germs invading this seemingly harmless fur environment. It’s an intimate space that almost too vulnerably lays itself open to outside physicality.
This “awkwardness” that arises when engaging with *Fur Room* mirrors that of Nicola L.’s broader exploration of bodily encounters. Capable of evoking both humor and unease, the experience may offer subconscious parallels to sexual experiences — intimate, penetrative acts that inherently blend beauty, vulnerability, and uneasiness.
## Gender, Objectification, and the Female Body
Nicola L.’s exploration of the female form often emphasizes vulnerability, penetrability, and objectification, apparent even in the linguistic choice of calling her series *Pénétrables*. The term itself implies that the female body is defined by its penetrability, a concept often linked to objectification. Nonetheless, Nicola complicates this reading. While these artworks suggest vulnerability, they also invoke the generative and powerful attributes of the female body — not only as an object to be viewed and “entered,” but as a protective, creative entity.
Take, for example, *Little TV Woman* (1969), which sits at the symbolic center of Nicola L.’s work with gender. This monumental sculpture, an unsettling amalgamation of doll and household object, critiques the objectification of women. Drawers fitted into her breasts, pelvis, and gut turn parts of her anatomy into functional domestic objects, while her abdomen houses a television screen that declares, “I am the last woman object.” Here, Nicola L. delivers a chilling observation amidst postmodern irony: though this passive woman may be touched, fondled, and manipulated, she solidly asserts its end — even while the artist leaves us wondering if that end will ever truly come.
Her work continues to