Do Not Touch participates in discourse about the dilemma, seductions and conflicts surrounding food and body image in our society. The bare breasted woman (in the upper right hand corner of the frame) dressed in her Greek goddess costume (for purity, of course), tries to crawl out the guilt edged frame. I speculate that her stature and purity on a bottle of White Rock table water reflect the purity of the water inside.  She is crawling out of the frame as a metaphor for the women in art (as the object or subject) trying to escape.  

“… the omnipresent media consistently portrays desirable women as thin.  In addition, what is considered beautiful has become slimmer and slimmer.  For example, in 1950, the White Rock mineral water girl was 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed 140 pounds.  Today she is 5 feet 10 inches and weighs 110 pounds.”   P.184 Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher, Ph.D.

Recycled tin containers, brass wire embroidery, aluminum rivets.

Dimensions: 17” H x 25” W x 3” D

Private Collection

The outside frame is a collage of cutout images of food, flowers, women, art, and other suggestive references to the theme, Do Not Touch.  All the materials (with the exception of the brass wire and fabricated brass frame) are from recycled, tin containers as a further commentary about our consumer society. 

The center material is doll house floor drilled with thousands of holes. The center lettering, Do Not Touch, is embroidered in brass wire, using satin stitch. Like the 19th century precedent, the holes are backed with reflective material which catches the light if you look at it in just the right angle. The entire center piece is surrounded by a slim, brass frame.  

 Do Not Touch is featured in the book Manufractured by Mara Holt Skov and Steven Skov Holt. Explore Do Not Touch in the book and additional works by Harriete in the chapter dedicated entirely to Harriete’s work.