Mire of Melusine

Myth, ecology, personal transformation and (gender) identity come together in the ritualistic installation Mire of Melusine (2024).


Inspired by the folk legend of Melusine – a mythical water entity with human features – and the urban swamp landscape of their childhood, Venus Jasper explores themes such as trauma, medicine, spirituality and the intertwining of humanity and nature through a sculptural assemblage sprawling some 7 by 6 meters.


Comprised of stones, metal, water pumps, many ceramics and lab parafernalia under grow lights, the artwork reads as a symbolic formula, connected childhood memories and practices of medicine and alchemy in a search for queer identity and becoming, wherein the recycling of personal items into artwork forms a type of ecdysis - the process wherein snakes shed their skin to allow for further growth.
‍

The living landscape of limestone, earth and waterworks form the foundation of the work and carries both symbolic and personal significance, connecting to memories of wetlands near Eindhoven, teenage witchcraft, and small hidden play spots amongst building materials in residential areas where the maker found a sanctuary for transformation, resistance, and healing.

‍
‍

‍

‍

‍

In the Netherlands, wetlands and swamps are always in relation to the presence of industry, and so spirit is too. In Mire of Melusine, the roughness of urban materials such as stones and metal racks form the base for more tender and poetic elements, such as detailed ceramics. A juxtaposition that mirrors the precarious antropocentric time in which I was born and grew up, in an odd waterland nation where the connection to pre-roman and pre-christian water worship culture seems oddly missing.
‍
‍
Populating the installation are several costumes from live-works, past and coming, evoking spirits of bogs, furious sirens on rocky coastlines and other seductive wise-womxn. Parafenalia from traditional herbal medicine and alchemy, and also modern medicine practices, such as scalpels and pill-strips, lay alongside of sex toys, new age books, and an early 2000's pop cd.


Somewhat central to the installation, we see a giant legged tub with a spiraling aluminium casted dragon fawcett. The water surface reflects a liquid mercury. One long black fish-leather gown is suspended from the ceiling on a handcrafted hanger: like a skin cast off or ready to be worn next in the process of personal and artistic becoming, the dressing and undressing of parts of self; remnants of the old, empty exoskeletons, or exuviae.
‍

Melusine is known as a figure of European folklore, a female spirit of fresh water in a holy well or river. She is usually depicted as a woman who is a serpent or fish from the waist down. Her legends are especially connected with the northern and western areas of France, Luxembourg, and the Low Countries. Much like most myths that involve earthy feminine archetypes, the true story of Melusine is corrupted and adapted by later patriarchal influences.

‍

As a visitor wanders through the various components of the installation, they are given an intimate glimpse into the fragmented boudoir of Melusine: a private space that takes on the form of a laboratory, library, archaeological site and a washing and changing room for a goddess.


In Mire of Melusine, past, present and future come together: it is a temple, place of offering, archive, and a room of one's own.

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

• _{Mire of Melusine is shown at Garage Rotterdam.}
• _{Elements of the installation have been made at MAKE Eindhoven, AIRIE Florida, SIM residency Iceland and Rupert Vilnius.}
• _{Mire of Melusine is part of Wetlands Worship.}

_‍

‍