Artists get orgasmic!

Marie Claire: Kuala Lumpur — February 2002

Certain things are better expressed through symbols rather than words.
Love is one; the experience of an orgasm is another.
And who better to depict these expressions than creative minds?

JUREMA BAKER, 49, ANTIQUE RESTORER – Jurema has been restoring antiques for over 20 years now, beginning in her home country of Brazil and later moving her business base to London. Since arriving in Malaysia over a year ago, she has been so inspired by our flora and fauna that she has turned them into home décor pieces. She collects leaves and flowers from everywhere and puts them through a special drying process before painting and varnishing them. Jurema also represents a group of 17 Brazilian artists, and organises art exhibitions for them worldwide.

HER CREATION: An arrangement of home decoration pieces using all-natural ingredients “I certainly found this an exciting project! The topic was very interesting, but I had to be careful not to produce something that would be seen as crude or too implicit. That in itself was a challenge. It didn’t take me too long to figure out what I wanted to do. Foremost on my mind was that for a woman to thoroughly enjoy her orgasm, all of her five senses need to come into play. Your hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch must all be involved intensely for a fulfilling orgasm.

“My next step was identifying objects to portray each of these senses, and that was hard! I chose the coconut to represent smell, as I love its scent. The banana flower is actually very soft, although you can’t tell it now, after I’ve processed and painted it, so that stands for touch. I added the ginger flower as I find it very exotic, from the taste of ginger itself to the appearance of its buds.

The palm leaf, which I personally find to be very beautiful, stands for sight. Also, as I wanted all the senses to come together, I used the leaf as a tray to hold everything else.
“Finally, the bamboo represents the sense of hearing. That last one took me the longest to figure out. I’ve always loved music, but I couldn’t very well place a CD there as it would look so out of place! Then, one day, while I was working on my balcony, there was a light breeze, and my bamboo wind-chime tinkled gently. That solved the problem!

“The red flower candle was included as a final touch. When lit up, it gives the whole piece another dimension, but I will leave it to you to interpret it your own way!”