Say It Back, Lucy Schwartzreich

Say It Back

Lucy Schwartzreich

“I was born to be a queen and every time I come down from

the throne I am humiliated for it and suffer many indignities.”

-Candy Darling

Say It Back explores the vulnerability of exposing oneself

without knowing what the response will be. In this work, humans

and beasts are entangled in states of care, control, and mutual

dependence. This narrates an unguarded state which is

frequently encountered within the art world, romantically, and

across social spaces. When this vulnerability is met with

resistance, it begins to feel aggressive, which mutates into

shame. At times, it feels like the city is a beast which one has to

plead with to feel seen.

I was recently struck by a small statue at the Met, Aquamanile in

the Form of Samson and the Lion. The vessel depicts Samson

atop a lion, his hands resting on, almost cradling, the animal’s

jaws. Though the biblical tale ultimately ends in violence, this

object captures a moment of suspended intimacy. I imagine

myself as the figure atop the animal—caressing, dominating,

being dominated—embodying Samson, my power residing in my

long hair, meeting the beast’s gaze without certainty of

outcome.

Since then I’ve gathered a personal archive of human-beast

imagery, with its subject encounters ranging from control to

surrender. Some show compassion; others depict conquest so

severe that the human wears the animal’s skin.