Lindsay Montgomery
In the Belly/ Dans le ventre
Chiguer Contemporain
May 8 – June 7, 2025
With a new series of vividly coloured and skillfully painted ceramic sculptures and vessels, Lindsay Montgomery’s solo exhibition at Chiguer Contemporain, In the Belly, presents us with a band of feral maidens, demons, and crones who cavort through the wilderness celebrating their vitality and freedom. The mood of these maximalist works is dark but playful, irreverent, and humorous, with an emphasis on feminine power. These works ask us to delve into our own darkness and wildness and see what mysteries lie therein. In this show we find demonic teapots paired with teacups, vessels painted with cultural and collective mythologies, and stand-alone ceramic sculptures. The technique used is terracotta slipware, earthen clay fired at low temperature, then painted. Her works are also inspired by the techniques and style of Italian Maiolica ceramics. Montgomery says she makes figurative ceramics in part because they are accessible and familiar. I enjoyed that despite this, the subject matter pushes the boundaries of what would the acceptable with the nudity and subject matter, seducing the viewer in with what is comfortable then turning them on their heads.
Installation view
Montgomery has been creating painted ceramic works that tell stories—influenced by istoriato, or painted history vessels well-known from the Renaissance period—for many years now. In this exhibition we find many stand-alone sculptures and figurines, but these aren’t your grandmother’s knick knacks. They don’t simply decorate, they are thoughtful, intentional, and more akin to the bedtime stories told by the Brother’s Grimm. They are tales of warning of the dangers that lie in the forest, in the unknown, they invite you to go out into the deep and the dark yourself with awareness of the perils that await there. I am reminded of Joseph Campbell’s idea of the hero’s journey, the hero who ventures away from home goes into the dark forest, then out into the wide world, where they gain wisdom and knowledge through experience and bring it back to the village when they return.
We are told that many of these works are autobiographical, and some are self-portraits. Lindsay Montgomery grew up in Washago, rural Ontario, close to Muskoka a couple of hours north of Toronto. Without much to do in the small town she was raised in, as teenagers, Montgomery and her friends would explore the forests and their own wild natures. Her characters remind us of the classic threefold goddess concept of maiden, mother, and crone, representing three main stages of a woman’s life. We find feral girls, naked and free, and older women, who might be labelled as witches or “hags” by some. These nude figures are also seemingly part of the forest themselves, they could be wood nymphs, nature Goddesses, or elemental spirits. The rejected and reclaimed feminine is a recurring theme, with many images of crones with sagging pointed breasts, and various disobedient women and demons. Throughout human history and especially in the Abrahamic religions, women have been associated with the demons, the Earth (in the way that the Earth and animals are seen as lesser subject to man) and Satan. We are told that women’s seductive ways will lead men astray into temptation and sin. Stories of Adam and Eve, and of Lilith in Jewish mythology reveal how patriarchal attitudes associate women with savage nature, violent beasts, and dark forces. With In the Belly, Montgomery retells these tales so that her characters lay claim to these forces within themselves as a source of fierce power and rebellion. Taking medieval demonology for inspiration, Montgomery conjures the creatures which border illuminated manuscripts with their endlessly creative, and often symbolic forms. We see the influence of Hieronymous Bosch, particularly the eschatological paintings Garden of Earthly Delights, and The Last Judgement.
Serpent Basin
There is a certain license given to the archetype of the rebel, the inner teenager, and the free spirit in these works. Women have not been given these liberties, they have to be taken. These figures don’t obey social norms, they have wild parties, they go to the wild places, the liminal spaces. I am reminded of my own recent research into vamacara (or left-hand) Tantra of medieval India, which brought a creative explosion of magic, art, and culture. In Tantra, transgression is made into a spiritual practice and many of the rituals were performed in at the outskirts of society, in the forest, jungles, and cremation grounds and Goddesses were given a pre-eminent roles. These naked, wild-haired, feral women of Montgomery’s oeuvre share elements strongly in common with certain forms of the Tantric goddess, Kali, such as the disgruntled widow-crone form Dhumavati. I can also see a connection other pagan deities, such as the Celtic dark mother and death goddess, the Morrigan.
Pink Moon
Described by Montgomery as the centrepiece of the exhibition, Pink Moon is a forest scene centred around the Hellmouth, a place the artist says represents the oppositional forces seeking to consume the protagonists. Four corpse-coloured nude female figures are the stars, they could be sisters, with their long dark hair and pendulous breasts. They are in the process of emerging from the fiery recesses of a giant wolf’s maw. The ringleader, said to be the artist, is leading the pack in her escape from the underworld. Around them, red trillium cheerfully cavort as if plants from a children’s book, reminding us that all is deeply alive and part of the play. Dead, perhaps burnt spruce with mysterious hollows flank the four companions. The women appear shocked, but victorious.
Cyclops and Cerberus Censor presents mythological figures reinterpreted here as brazenly female with drooping nipples and vulvas on display. I like the retelling of old myths with women having a prominent role. Cerberus is the dog of the God of the Underworld, Hades, and here these creatures meet beside a tree which must be rooted there, as they stand atop a grinning demon. Shepherdess shows us an unconscious nude woman in the forest surrounded by empty Labatt 50 cans, being pecked raw by a group of crows and attended by an unhelpful, stunned feline. In Green River, two fierce women with extraordinarily long and erect nipples sit together, mouths dripping blood. The rich cadmium red used here on the demons is particularly satisfying paired with the twilight blue hue of the vegetation. They are surrounded by angry demons who look like figures from Where the Wild Things Are. Their bodies also look pecked, are they infected deer fly bites that have been scratched? What have they been scavenging? Their wrinkles and hooked noses encourage us to embrace of what is commonly rejected in the feminine, in society, and also as subject matter for art. Their bodies and faces may be aging, but they still play like children, dangerous as they can also be, their hunger is a form of play. These works, dark as they may seem to some, are also a tender rendering of companionship, and the value of feminine friendship.
Green River
Sheela-na-gig is a re-imagining of the figure from Celtic mythology who was often used to decorate churches in the Medieval period. It is disputed whether they are remnants of pagan culture, or if they serve as a patriarchal warning of the debauched tendencies of feminine lust and desire. Montgomery’s Sheela-na-gig is brightly painted and red-eyed, her large, pointed breasts almost reach her sex, she has fawn legs, and flowers on her head. She squats as she not only spreads her vulva but gives birth to snakes. She has hair not just around her vulva but also inside her vagina as if the snakes are emerging from a dark forest.
The Hermit
In The Moon Tree, a demonic female figure with pointy ears and long, protruding tongue tends to a tree or vine with shocked round moon faces growing on it. Amanita muscaria mushrooms grow on the forest floor. Could this be a gateway place into deeper knowledge through initiation into the dangerous, but potentially enlightening experience that plant medicine can hold? The sculpture looks as if a tea light could be placed inside; I like how many of these works look as if they could be used for practical purposes, they use traditional techniques, but the subject matter is anything but traditional. It is hard to imagine anyone actually using such a precious work of art. Goblin Teapot shows a female goblin clinging happily to a pumpkin; Demon Teapot is a surreal piece in which a demon grasps a pot which transforms and emerges from the mouth of the moon.
Goblin Teapot
Purgatorium Vase is my coup de coeur, a large vase which is also an incredible work of visual storytelling. A walking tree figure, covered in fur and fruits, strides over witches burning at the stake. We have a collision of historical events and myths here from tales of Salem and the Inquisition, medieval ideas of hell, and pagan stories of the Green Man. The way he is covered in fur and fruits speaks to his primal, abundant nature, and also reminds us of Renaissance works by Arcimboldo. At the top of the vase, the sun and moon watch over the chaotic scenes. For the vase’s handles, we have serpents. On the other side, we see a nude woman impaled by a tree, another moon tree, and a castle which is spewing out a volcanic river of sinners—it is a hellish vision.
Purgatorium Vase
Lindsay Montgomery’s latest works serve as a reminder of the value of shadow work, of delving into our own creative, fructifying darkness, lest it overpower and undermine us, as Carl Jung taught. In the Belly shows us that the forest is a sacred place which must be protected. The wildness within and without serves an integral purpose to the past, present, and future of humanity and the planet.
Purgatorium Vase
Lindsay Montgomery Instagram
Chiguer Contemporain, Belgo Building #416