The Cannibal Debutantes
Laura Wagner
Artist's Statement - 2006

The Cannibal Debutantes emerged from a 1950’s cookbook. The pages were filled with happy images of the “ideal” American household at mealtime. Smiling wasp-waisted women served cherubim children and men with martinis in suits. All of the women had charmingly sly looks on their faces as though to say, "I may look like the sweet and obedient wife, but really I slipped something perfectly horrible into your Jell-O salad."

I created drawings and a pop-up book which evolved into a series of prints that poke fun at the idea of the traditional American family as embodied by these illustrations, particularly at the role of women as cooks and caretakers of the home. I turned the images into something funny and slightly grotesque. The food these coy women serve contains human remains.

Cannibal Debutantes are women who on the surface appear to fit perfectly the mold of ideal femininity. However, through subtle twists of character, speech and action they slice the stereotype to ribbons.