We have just been off for 2 weeks for easter and in that time I worked on the dissertation which has now been handed in. It was relief to get that handed in.
I also went to the Tate Liverpool to see the Dora Carrington show which also had work from Cathy Wilkes. I enjoyed both displays but it is Wilkes that leaves the lasting impression. For me, Carrington has always been a favourite, more especially because of her position she was able to paint and compete with the boys at a time when this was unusual so it was wonderful to see so much of her oeuvre in one place. But with Wilkes I learned something new. The combination of installation including paintings, exposed and perhaps arguably more interesting from the back, but the stars of the various separate installations which were presented all together were the uncanny figures of lost history, poverty, silently screaming out something very primal about family, children, labour and domestication. Incorporating found objects from digs or materials, the figures were reduced to their simplest form, but of course, that is what gave them their power. I found them enchanting and atmospheric. Depicting a bygone world that I feel by DNA and genealogy was part of. I also found it interesting that she had the confidence to switch medium for the actual heads, be it felt or a more contrived plaster basis. And I am sure that the grids also had meaning, I would like to know more about her.
