What Do People Put in Their Mouths, and Why?

When we were kids, Great Aunt Aggie's frilly glass candy dishes were always generously filled. I realize now I would have been welcome and encouraged to indulge, but at the time their formal elegance seemed off limits. Once in a while, my usual goody goody nature would give way to a sneaky childish greed: maybe it was the impeccably dusted coffee tables bearing darlings and doilies that seduced me to steal. I wanted a part of that pretty sweetness. But the treats were, despite their secret shiny promise, consistently stale. I was simultaneously awed and disappointed by the realization that Aggie never ate candy. She just wanted us to.

I still crave stimulation, nourishment, and safety, and wonder about the many ways other adults seek these necessities, both privately and through relationships. What are the differences between pacification and gratification?

Through the process of handling wet clay with my lips, teeth, mouth and tongue or casting oral implements and then laboriously carving, burnishing, binding and contextualizing them, I am exploring preoccupations with decoration, use, and accessibility. The resulting dysfunctional symbols are humorous and hopefully elegant examinations of our society's ambivalence towards various functions and sources of pleasure.

Stephanie Lanter 2005

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