The Ribbon -"Velvet" Exhibition

I was invited by Christiaan Diedericks to take part in a show he is curating for KKNK this year, entitled "Velvet". The basis of the brief for the exhibition is- "Eroticism and pornography in art - is the line fine, defined or irrelevant?"
Eroticism and pornography is obviously  in the eye and mind of the beholder, but the packaging of the subject is, I think, the issue that constitutes the line between chastity and eroticism, virtue and pornography in art.
In deciding what to do for the exhibition, I thought much about the idea of the 'suggestion' of sex as being far more powerful than stripped down in your face obvious porn. The woman who places herself fully clothed behind a window slightly raised above the viewer in a suggestive stance is far more titillating and evocative  than a fully naked woman at eye level leaving naught to the imagination. The use of velvet and satin in her clothing suggests a heightened sensuality, and the satin ribbon knotted under her chin is suggestive of a gift waiting to be unwrapped. However, she stands behind a sheet of glass, and so a barrier exists between the viewer and the subject, and on studying her, one is constantly made aware of ones own reflection and reaction to her - in other words, the viewer in effect morphs with the image of the woman and in effect her beauty and unavailability, and so ones own base physical desires with regards to sex become more obvious to self, which in itself can become a hugely seductive process,or bring about feelings of huge discomfort.

There is so much written on the subject, and throughout history, art has been used to portray sex and sexuality. Dependent on the times and what was socially acceptable at the time, the works within their time could have been seen as slightly titillating, but 300 years on, because of the change in the social viewpoint of sex, they could be construed as being pornographic or visa versa.
Sex and the idea of it will always intrigue. It hooks into our most basic core. No landscape or still life will ever compare in the eyes of humanity - but having said that, in the eye of the beholder, a landscape could be incredibly evocative of a sex, and there is no telling what a Styrofoam cup, painted in a certain light with a smudge of lipstick and the hint of a tooth mark on its rim could evoke...