Vanitas -- Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic

Jana Sterbak

1987

Jana Sterbak, one of my personal favourite artists, created Vanitas in 1987. The dress of meat opens a dialogue for the a discussion on human condition, using meat as the vehicle. The meat is stitched into a dress, and is displayed in the gallery space. The dress begins to decay, a process that affects all flesh, and the stench permeates the atmosphere. It speaks to human vanity, and the eventual degradation of beauty as a result of aging. In a poetic twist, the decay is self inflicted (as we know by the title): an anorexic woman, who strives for acceptance into the world of fashion, sacrifices her health, and potentially her life, to stay in vogue.

The pictures below detail the decay process. In the gallery, the piece is exhibited on a dressmaker's stand, with the above picture on the wall next to the piece.

Here is an exert from Storer Rowley’s article “A Raw Meat Dress Stakes Its Claim as an Object of Art.” (Chicago Tribune. April 14th, 1991).

“Unusual and unrefrigerated, Jana Sterbak’s meat dress, 50 pounds of raw flank steaks stitched together and displayed on a hanger at the National Gallery, is causing a cultural flap in Canada.
Entitled ‘Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic,’ the exhibit was created by Montreal artist Sterbak to emphasize the contrast between vanity and bodily decay.
It also underlines the contrast between people willing to recognize it as art, and those who would rather take their meat at mealtimes.
Reminiscent of recent clashes between U.S. politicians over the limits of artistic taste, the dress has drawn as much general attention as any Canadian work of art in years.
The reaction was strong. Two hundred people mailed food scraps to Canada’s most popular fine arts museum last week to protect the new show.
But most people who have seen it say it’s legitimate art.”

I think it's important to note that the reaction of people produces more waste into the world, and they clearly completely miss the meaning of the piece (unless of course they're trying to feed the poor anorexic woman, but I feel that she would probably prefer cake, or at the very least, not leftovers).