In a series we are calling “Recipes for REVOLT”, we will be delving a bit deeper into these art pieces to give you a sense of where this extraordinary play sprung. The next artist in the series is photographer Francesca Woodman.
“Francesca Woodman (American, 1958–1981) was an American photographer known for her black-and-white self-portraits and images of other female models. Despite her short career, which ended with her suicide at the age of 22, Woodman produced over 800 prints during her life. Influenced by Conceptualism and featuring recurring symbolic motifs such as birds, mirrors, and skulls, Woodman’s work is often compared to Surrealists such as Hans Bellmer and Man Ray.
Artnet writes: “The majority of the prints produced by Woodman are untitled, and her works are known only by their date and location. Woodman’s photographs often depict nude women and blurred images, where figures merge with their surroundings and faces are obscured. Among Woodman’s most well-known photos is Polka Dots (1976), in which she appears crouched beside a crumbling wall, her patterned dress split at the seam.”
The photographs seem to probe history, location, and the crumbling of exteriors and interiors – both physical and psychic – in unsettling and stunningly beautiful ways.
(From the collection of George and Betty Woodman)