PUSSY GALORE
It’s here. The irresistible force of apex cutification arrives at London’s Somerset House, as both celebration and investigation of how its emotive and complex power came to rule the world – from emojis to internet memes, video games to stuffed toys, and food to loveable robotica. It’s a “plushtomisation” of adorable doe-eyed creatures, chubby-cheeked babies, flowers, mushrooms, hearts, castles, stars and other romantic motifs. Leading the Kittyfication is Her Royal Highness Hello Kitty, celebrating
50 years in existence, with her own dedicated space, including an immersive disco, mirror balls and mirrored walls, and an avatar Kitty in DJ mode. The show also charts kawaii’s origins in Tokyo, from the 1910s to the ’50s, and foregrounds female Japanese illustrators of the ’60s. But it’s not all Japan.
The exhibition CUTE also highlights the origins of “pet-ification” through depictions of 19thcentury animals and children in Louis Wain’s anthropomorphic representations of felines, and photographer Harry Pointer’s Brighton Cats series depicting his own pussies in various states of play. There’s a bunch of contemporary artworks and new artist commissions, from Aya Takano and Ram Han to Wong Ping, Rachael McClean and Pussy Riot.
“In recognising and honouring otherness,” writes Claire Catterall, senior curator at Somerset House, in the show’s catalogue, “cuteness allows us to be fully ourselves, without judgement or boundaries.
Put simply, it gives up permission to be happy.”
Until April 14