Madeleine Sinnock

The Phlegmmes is a series of melancholic objects made of found and scrap materials that function as uncomfortable toys. While lacking recognizable facial characteristics, the Phlegmmes are also amorphous creatures, partially constructed of body parts from my past work. Inspired by the ways children use toys to control and understand the world around them, the Phlegmmes encourage visitors to touch and play through inviting wall text, bright colors and soft plush material. However, the creatures' bodily forms and awkward construction give them an abject quality and an incomplete ability to comfort. 

 

This elusive and illusory comfort is central to my exploration of the ways in which femininity is forced onto bodies and subjectivities: whereby something that feels comforting, nostalgic, and even humorous, can be the source of deep melancholia and discontent. The work addresses this simultaneous disgust of femininity and the desire to find comfort within it.