Last Biennale she filled the Macedonian Pavilion with albino rat skins and now she is showing pig stomachs and lamb’s intestines in the Vatican: Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva is certainly not an artist for the faint-hearted and would seem a surprising choice for the Holy See.
However, while her (actually very beautiful) intestinal chapel-cum-grotto made from dried pig’s caul and plaited lamb guts—as well as a section of the cow’s innards known amongst butchers as The Bible—may not be a huge draw for some, it has been greeted with such enthusiasm in Rome that two works have been acquired for the Vatican’s rapidly expanding contemporary art collection.
“I like the challenge of working with the Vatican and seeing how far I can push the boundaries,” says Ms Hadzi-Vasileva, who grew up in the former Yugoslavia when religion was strictly forbidden. She also reveals that she has been given helpful advice from the Vatican’s top of the range conservators to prevent her delicate materials from deteriorating in the Venetian climate.
Although more used to dealing with Michelangelo and Raphael, apparently the Holy See’s conservation department have also embraced the challenge. After all, as they of all people know, animal products have been a staple of art history since time immemorial: Indian yellow made from mango-fed cow’s urine anyone?