"Venus von Willendorf"

gelatin silver print

signed, dated and titled (pencil) on verso

"On Saturday, April 7, 1984, at around 2 pm, the Venus of Willendorf began to prepare for her final journey. After 75 years of captivity, she wanted to return to her home town. She briefly thought back to that day in 1908 when her millennia-long rest was suddenly disturbed. Now, she had to do it. She slowly crept past the guard and slipped into the nearby greenery with hurried steps. So she wandered around the big city on that April Saturday. On Sunday, she finally found an opportunity to reach her hometown. Overjoyed, she found her home. After a quick look around, she quickly began to dig her resting place. She lay down in it and was one with the earth." ¹
In his own small satirical photo series, Robert Zahornicky pays tribute to the world-famous artifact of the Venus of Willendorf. The Paleolithic Venus figurine, which is around 11 cm tall and approximately 29,500 years old, is Austria's most famous archaeological find. A new geological analysis by the Natural History Museum in Vienna revealed that the figurine was most likely made from rock from northern Italy, most probably from the area around Lake Garda. The interpretation of Venus as a goddess of fertility and sex is now outdated and a result of 19^th century social role models, as is the term “Venus,” which dates back to a time when nudity was still considered highly scandalous. Modern science sees the figurine as a representation of the wise, old woman - the grandmother. We now assume that while grandmothers prepared children for Stone Age life, young women went hunting with the men.²
(Christoph Fuchs, translated with deepL)

Anmerkungen

1
Robert Zahornicky about the series, www.zahor.net/aktionen.html

2
THE DISSIDENT GODDESSES' NETWORK is an interdisciplinary research project that, based on the significant discoveries of female figurines from Lower Austria's early and prehistory, addresses questions that can be linked to these findings from today's perspective, www.tdgn.at