Maria Fusco

Their Nocturnal Poioumenon
City of Women, 2009

'One persistently fiddles with the top button of her blouse
- a little distressed perhaps, hard to tell - whilst another observes her with care and winks towards someone I can’t quite see. A single heeled black suede shoe droops dejectedly from the hand of its owner, not needed for the nonce. A polished silver pocket watch links a couple together briefly before resting from its chain. Two middle fingers touch slyly for a moment. An index finger breaks a circle, then pokes around a mouth. Too many hands touch too many faces for me to remember each one; I do know that most are caresses and just a few are shields. Tired wrists are rubbed, squeezed or simply inspected. Some of the younger women sit on the edge of a kerb stone, gilding the gutter.'

Their Nocturnal Poioumenon: Notes on City of Women is an essay commissioned by artist Jaki Irvine for a poster publication to accompany her film City of Women (2009).

Published by The LAB, Dublin in City of Women

Plate six from The Harlot's Progress by William Hogarth (1732)

Plate six from The Harlot's Progress by William Hogarth (1732)