Manyu Qi

In French, "octopus (pouple)" also means masculine. The octopus' multiple tentacles and shellfish-like nature are easily reminiscent of genital worship. Indeed, the octopussy as a sociological trope exists to highlight the locus point of female sexual agency and problematising the “looseness” of genital access she provides.

It is through the conflation of female genitalia and octopus anatomy. The origin of this cephalopodan visualisation of the female anatomy can be attributed to Victor Hugo’s Toilers of the Sea. This sexualised interpretation of the man-animal confrontation was enabled by Hugo’s gendered language. From this arises the wanton woman who manipulates men’s desires and extorts Patriarchy by instrumentalising her “octopussy.” Though this body part nominally marks females as powerless, it also attracts a male interest in genitalia. The image of an octopus with multiple tentacles as a penis exists in the sexual fantasy.

In addition, A similar description mentioned in Freud also alludes to the relationship between the tentacle and the penis in his psychoanalysis of Medusa. A large number of snakes turned into a head of hair, especially the hair of a woman. This figure from Greek mythology is interpreted as a symbol of the fear-invoking characteristics of the female based primarily on observing the anatomical difference in sexual structure between males and females (Jacques Schnier, Morphology of a Symbol: The Octopus).

My works describe the octopus suction discs, gripping and entwining characteristics by endowing the tentacles with genitalia attributes, and a polyphyletic symbol is created. Thus, the image of the tentacle recurs in my work which depicts genitalia and Body parts heterogeneity of the body to express a fear of defending against castration. It also contains my fantasy for post-human with a Cthulhu aesthetic. Human desire and all its outward manifestations - may be undergoing a fundamental change. Therefore, it must be revisited.