Ana Karkar: Whole Cookie

30 May-27 Jul 2024

Overview

INTERVIEW WITH A SPHINX

By Mina Harker

SPHINX: Did you see my new tattoo, Mina? It tickled.

MINA: They've just sent some rather fun questions for you... Favourite scent?

SPHINX: Cake. So it goes from my wing, around the belly to the top of my tail.

MINA (reads): 'Poor is the man whose pleasures depend on the permissions of another'?

SPHINX: It's a Madonna quote. From 'Justify My Love'... Can we call room service?

MINA: Gosh, yes, I remember the video. Rather a Helmut Newton pornographic soiree situation.

SPHINX: So sick, yeah. I think I was conceived to that, maybe? (Laughs) In the desert.

MINA: Your father was a tiger and your mother was an eagle owl— correct?

SPHINX: You're so clever, Mina, yeah! And they had me, lucky fuckers. Flew straight from my mum's belly, looked at my wings in the mirror, cried some diamonds. I am so hungry. I'm phoning for some pancakes.

MINA: Was it disturbing, discovering that you weren't like other girls or boys?

SPHINX: Being in a body is always disturbing, nope? It's a neverending disturbance. Hormones and growth spurts and mood swings. I guess I should've been self-harming in a graveyard, ripping my heart out. Blood always gets me hot, actually. And bones.

MINA: If I get too... hot and bothered, I fetch the opium. Did you enjoy Eyes Wide Shut?

SPHINX: I mean, I've been to those rituals and it was a lot sexier, but, yeah, it's a great Xmas movie. Well done, Stan.

MINA: I enjoy a mask... the mystery.

SPHINX: I liked a lot, actually, my body. Having this weird thing nobody else had. Like a rose. And tiger-stripes on my back.

MINA: I must confess when I saw a tiger at the Zoological Gardens in London once, I did feel a quiver.

SPHINX: Lay the pancakes down there, thank you, baby! Boys are my favourite food, really. You should've banged that tiger, Mina! You banged a wolf.

MINA: Yes, well, we all have a past. Favourite erotic film?

SPHINX: Aw, Forbidden Tales! People are scared of themselves. Scared of what they want. It's all kind of tragic.

MINA: Perhaps the refusal intensifies the urge...

SPHINX: Maybe. I think it's like a big party and being offered swan to eat and then just saying, Oh, I'll take this feather.

MINA: But a swan feather caressed upon a delicate area of flesh is —

SPHINX: Like, I broke into this mausoleum with a redhead girl once. Like that Joy Division album cover or whatever? Anyway, she kissed me while we were lying on the slab... MINA: Sphinx, my love! Think of the cadavers, the ghosts —

SPHINX: Shut up, they would've clapped! That cold marble on my fur. Miaow. And it was so dark in there. Nice and dark and warm.

MINA: Houdini's ghost did visit me once, unstitched my corset. SPHINX: Rather naughty. There's a jungle growling in my belly.

MINA: Forgive my blushes. Celebrity crush?

SPHINX: Hunter Schafer: no question.

MINA: Do you believe in good and evil?

SPHINX: Who came up with that? We need to be pals with our demons and angels and hang out with them and feed each other grapes.

MINA: Like a splendid Titian.

SPHINX: Yeah? Or more Bacon vibe, maybe.

MINA: Favourite body part? SPHINX: On me? Oooh, my wings. I like having someone nestled in there, all cosy. Hold them tight.

MINA: On someone else?

SPHINX: All of it, especially the earlobe. Mina, come and have some food, please. MINA: Dark honey from the continent! Marvelous. Last dream you had?

SPHINX: Ooh, I was looking at this pool of flesh on a marble floor, all red and bloody and sparkling like treasure.

MINA: Crumbs. SPHINX: I know.

— Charlie Fox, artist, writer and curator

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