Helen ChadwickEnfleshings I 1989

Enfleshings I and its partner, Enfleshings II (Tate T06877), are large, rectangular cibachrome transparencies, sandwiched between glass sheets, mounted on the wall and back-lit by fluorescent strip lights. Four brass fixings, visible on the front of each, hold the layers in place. They were made in editions of three, of which these are both number two. They may be exhibited individually, although the artist has stated a preference for them to be displayed together as a diptych. Each image is an enlarged close-up view of raw meat. A light bulb containing an illuminated coil is embedded just below the centre of the meat in Enfleshings I. Fissures in the flesh below it evoke vulvic openings… (read more)