ABI FRANKIE

MIXED MEDIA | Manchester | she/they

HOUSE OF THEODORA CHATS TO ABI FRANKIE

From drawing inspiration from her sex diaries to channelling the expression of the boundary-pushing photographer Mapplethorpe, Manchester artist, Abi Frankie, is finding her way in the art world. We asked her to share her experience and tell us more about her first project, ‘Sacred Cunt’.

Who is Abi Frankie?

Ah! Perhaps Abi Frankie is not the best person to ask who Abi Frankie is but generically, I am a 19-year-old student. I grew up with my cat and mum, a frightfully feminine feline fountainhead for creativity, if not a little crowded for a matchbox. I live and study in Manchester and hope to plant my roots and stay in such a fruitful city until I outgrow it.

You’re starting out in the art world. What’s been your experience so far?

Nepotism! The craft is rife; however, it has been a mostly welcoming experience and a wonderfully intimate journey. My subjects are often quite ‘scandalous’ and dip into some of the most grisly details of sex and self, so sharing my art has kindled meaningful relationships and comical reactions in part. Navigating the art world from a working-class background with limited connections has proved difficult. Still, I am privileged in my location and the resources I have around me – it has been an experience of harnessing these resources and recognising my position.

Can you tell us how you go about creating your art?

I can try! Often my art comes from a place of long, sometimes painful, sometimes cringe, reminiscing. Or sometimes, it is sparked by girlish daydreaming. However, a lot of it begins with poetry. I keep a sex diary, which I have found shapeshifts its way into poetry, which often grows into art. It’s a magpie process; each shiny souvenir I take from my experiences finds its way into my nest, adding more and more to my art.

Who inspires you?

My friends, mostly! I am privileged to be surrounded by a sparkling collection of creatives who share similar paths and perspectives on art, poetry, freedom of expression, and pleasure. My greatest inspiration is Robert Mapplethorpe; however, I also marvel at the work of Cosey Fanni Tutti. One of my biggest inspirations was a zine I came across in ‘Village’ in the Northern quarter called Fire is my favourite colour by Marta Zdulska; I revelled how they incorporated writing, photography and illustration so enchantingly.

What sparked your series ‘Sacred Cunt’?

Sacred Cunt is an extension of sex and self and represents the admiration and comfort I feel amongst the divine feminine and my struggles with sexuality. It focuses on the divination of sex. As a sensitive lover, it represents the religion of warmth and intimacy, married with the discomfort of such an overbearing hunger for a seemingly distant and inaccessible connection within the hook-up culture.

It is sparked by the odd experience of denying my sexuality for the ease of a bed partner. This is highlighted in my poem ‘Sappho’s terror’, which tackles the feeling of collecting unholy trophies on my quest to accept a sapphic lifestyle. ‘Pest’ is a poem that similarly magnifies the ‘double-life’ felt in my escapades with men as I steal a sweet disposition amongst toxic bacchanalian adventures, inauthentic to the girl I give to girls.

Who are the people you paint?

Most of the people I paint are extensions of myself or distorted ideas of past lovers. Recently I have become frustrated at being my muse more than enough times, though it is a hard self-indulgent habit to break off as a serial media masturbator.

What is pleasure to you?

Queer sex has often been stifled and shrouded within society. However, I think the pleasure found amongst safe pornography, celebratory erotica, and art acts as a transgression through a feminist and socio-political taboo. Pleasure is the thrill of the forbidden, the head-on conflict between myself, my sex and comphet [compulsory heterosexual] pressure. The feeling of unlocking an age-old secret is a true pleasure for me, whether that be the primitive gale of sex or the sweet and syrupy innocence of holding hands under a table.

Robert Mapplethorpe is an inspiration. What do you love about his work?

A headline from an article on him is blu tacked on my wall – The Art of Making Shock Chic! His shocking eroticism that shook the United States, his ‘obscene and indecent materials’ provoking the public funding of contemporary art – coined ‘immoral trash’ I admire his perseverance in creating what he loved and loving creating. 

One day I would like to curate performance art, and to emulate even the essence of Mapplethorpe’s curious bravery would leave me happy forever. As he said, ‘When I work, and in my art, I hold hands with God.’ This all-consuming scramble to create what you need to communicate inspired the advent of my art career. 

What is your view on women in the arts today?

Mira Schor offers a cool perspective of this in WET: On Painting, Feminism and Art Culture in which she explores representations of the penis. She references Acconci’s Trappings (1971), where his experimentations with sexuality, such as dressing his penis in dolls clothes, were treated as validated high art. He desecrated the visual and sensual ideals of eroticism for ironic male assured ideas of distance and gender. Here, the male hegemony over art history prevails, and the mission women have of dodging the notions of narcissism, sluttishness, and crudeness to reach the same readings. She speaks of how women in art are w/hole, not simply a hole, which I think is essential to hold tightly onto, that we are containers of art, not merely contained by male perceptions of art. As Monique Wittig said, "There is no 'feminine writing' ... and one makes a mistake is using and giving currency to this expression." I think this rejection of the male lens in order to be read as an artist is what’s essential to break free from the idea of a subcategory, and the ‘other’.

If you could invite any five people to dinner (living or past), who would they be?

I'd love to invite Margaret thatcher and sit back and watch her interact with my list, but I'm afraid she wouldn't make the cut. Evidently, Mapplethorpe. Perhaps Cosey Fanni Tutti, I reckon her and Robert would get on and have some stories to tell; I'd sit them next to each other. Maybe I would place Lady Colin Campbell between them, just for a little reactionary thrill. Without a doubt, I'd sit next to Joan of Arc, what is a dinner party without history's finest It Girl. On my right, I would place Yoko Ono.  I know it is only five guests, but Chella Man would have to receive an invite too as one of the first artists I followed on Instagram – credit where its due. And I’d also love to dine with Monique Wittig!

Location: Manchester

Preferred mediums: mixed media, ink

Other design products: Zines, Tote Bags, T-shirts, Knickers, Stickers, Sculpture

Size range: A5 - A3

Commissions: yes; 1-4 weeks

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