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Date: 2007-04-07

Trash People; Art's Voluptuous Beauties

A Modern Social Commentary Falls Short

By Elizabeth Lev

ROME, APRIL 7, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Visitors entering the northern gate of Rome that leads onto the Piazza del Popolo were surprised to find the stately space invaded by the Trash People.

The 6-foot figurines, made entirely out of refuse, stood at silent attention March 21-29 in the theatrical square, adorned over the centuries by artists as diverse as Bernini and Giuseppe Valadier.

These Trash People are the creation of German artist HA Schult, and have been traveling around the world since 1996. They are composed of 35 tons of compacted trash, the things we throw away every day, such as soda cans, computer parts, electrical components and Styrofoam.

The sight of the installation was quite striking, and the 1,000 neatly arrayed figures provided an interesting contrast with the great obelisk of Ramses II, brought to Rome by Augustus in 10 B.C. It is difficult, however, to know what to make of the artist's message.

Schult's point in making the Trash People is to remind contemporary society that we produce a lot of waste, choosing what is convenient and disposable over what may last longer, but is less useful to our modern lifestyles.

"We are what we consume," states Schult's Web site. "We live in the Trash Time: We produce trash and we become trash." The spectator, walking through the uniform silhouettes in Piazza del Popolo, and peering into the faceless heads, is meant to see himself in the rusty Coke cans or plastic foam.

Schult is hardly the first artist to take a dim view of human beings. Leonardo da Vinci entertained similar thoughts when he wrote in his notebooks that men of "coarse and clumsy habits and of small knowledge [are] merely a sack in which their food may be stowed and whence it may issue." He called these men "vehicles for food; [with] nothing about them of the human species but the voice and the figure."

Leonardo, however, tempered his disgust for those who could not appreciate higher things with an appreciation of human potential. The otherworldliness of Christ in the "Last Supper," the delicate features of Mary in "The Virgin of the Rocks," and the searching portrait that is the "Mona Lisa," demonstrate Leonardo's ability to see beyond human frailty to the greatness of man made in God's image and likeness.

In opposition to Leonardo, Schult's slick criticism of contemporary society offers no answers, and no incitement for man to better himself. The Trash People declare that man's abuse of the environment has reduced him to a hollow mass, stamped with a few brand names here and there. Art is thus reduced to the juvenile exercise that critical theorists call "trashing."

Nonetheless, it is true that our era faces more challenging environmental problems than ever before. In both the industrializing and post-industrial parts of the world, we have damaged our surroundings in the name of progress.

I asked Father Paul Haffner, professor of theology at the Regina Apostolorum university, what we, as Christians, are to make of environmentalism.

Father Haffner, author of "Per una Teologia dell'Ambiente" (Toward a Theology of the Environment), drew on Pope John Paul II's message on peace with creation, delivered Jan. 1, 1990, in his reflections on nature and man.

"Ecological problems are symptoms of a larger problem," Father Haffner said. "The separation of faith and reason in the wake of the Enlightenment and the industrial age resulted in the loss of ethical tools being applied to nature."

"In this modern age, man has plundered the resources of his environment out of self-interest," continued Father Haffner, "overlooking his God-given role of stewardship of the created world."

But ecological solutions that downplay the importance of man are not the answer, explained the priest: "Many environmentalists see the cosmos at the center of everything, but it is men and women, made in the likeness of Christ, who are the true center, and who collaborate in God's plan to renew the face of the earth."

It's hard to discern any spark of divine likeness in the empty faces of the Trash People.

Father Haffner drew a distinction between the science of ecology and the ideology of ecology: "One must sift through the straw of eco-ideology in order to find the golden nuggets of actual science.

"One must apply reason to ecology as well as the great Christian virtues: temperance in consumption, prudence in the disposal of waste and justice in the distribution of the world's resources."

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When Thin Wasn't In

While the trash people were occupying the Piazza del Popolo, young women of Giacometti-like thinness were heading for Milan’s annual fall fashion previews. Last week, style pundits were abuzz with the news that Allegra Versace, the 22-year-old daughter of the famous fashion designer Donatella Versace, suffered from anorexia.

The news sprinkled gasoline on an already heated discussion about young women and body image, especially after the recent deaths of such rail-thin models as 21-year-old Brazilian Ana Carolina Reston, and the Uruguayan sisters, Luisel and Eliana Ramos, who died within six months of each other. They were 22 and 18, respectively.

Europe has been responding to the growing concern that fashion and the media promote an impossible body image to young women, causing them to become obsessed with weight and ultimately succumb to eating disorders.

Last September in Madrid, excessively thin models were banned from fashion shows as officials imposed a required body mass index of 18 or over (15 indicates starvation). London and Milan are considering following suit.

But the fashion world, which claims to cater to women, won’t give up the skinny model without a fight. Modeling agencies decried discrimination against models and “the freedom of the designer.”

It is hard to see what is empowering or beautiful in skeletal figures teetering precariously along a catwalk. These victims of the whims of fashion designers (who tell them to wear ball gowns one day or tar and feathers the next) seem physically unsubstantial, unable to resist the tempests and hardships of life.

Up until the last century, images of female beauty drew mainly on the physical resilience required for bearing children. But the world of fashion, which reached its zenith just as the birth rates started to drop, has no interest in this aspect of female beauty. No children equals more money, more money equals more clothes, and more profits for the industry.

The result is models who look like children, yet who are paraded before women as the ideal femininity. They encourage women to remain like children -- self-absorbed, unable to feed themselves, unwilling to shoulder adult responsibilities.

Five hundred years ago, Michelangelo gave us an ideal of female beauty while painting in the Sistine Chapel. Already stressing the co-responsibility of man and woman in the salvation of humanity, by putting Eve in every scene with Adam, the Renaissance artist, wrongly deemed a misogynist by uninformed critics, empowered women more than any slick advertisement in a glossy magazine.

Side by side with the great protagonists of the Old Testament, Michelangelo frescoed Judith and Esther, heroines because of their beauty and their virtue. No will-o'-the-wisps here, a long neck and graceful pose indicate femininity, but these women are strong and determined. Judith's arm is strong enough to wield the sword that will save her people.

The most stunning examples of female beauty are the sibyls. The Delphic Sibyl sits in one of the first niches from the main door holding her scroll. While her face boasts the small mouth, large eyes and regular features still admired today, she clearly could not model any designer jeans. Yet her energetic pose, dynamically twisting in two different directions, emphasizes the strength of her body.

The last sibyl in this row, the Libyan Sibyl poses with her back toward the chapel. Her waist is slim and her hips are full, while her pointed toes perch at the edge of her niche elongating the line of her limbs. But the breadth of her shoulders and extension of her arms as she turns to close the book of prophesies, seems like a wingspan ready to propel her off the chapel wall. With the fiery colors of her robes, she looks like a bird of paradise perched above the altar.

Michelangelo's portrayal of women was innovative in his own time. Most artists, like Raphael, represented women with soft flesh and round curves, physically weaker and more susceptible to temptation. But Michelangelo saw in both men and women the vocation and capacity to live virtuous and holy lives. He created men and women who look ready to resist sin and forge ahead on the path to heaven.

Far from encouraging women to starve themselves to attain an impossible physical form, Michelangelo incites women to nourish themselves with faith and exercise heroic virtue to achieve the very real goal of paradise.

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Elizabeth Lev teaches Christian art and architecture at Duquesne University's Italian campus. She can be reached at lizlev@zenit.org.