Louise Nevelson and Leonardo Drew

Outi Pieski, Spell on You!  2020

Outi Pieski, Spell on Me!  2024

Carolina Caycedo, Yuma, or the land of Friends II  2020

Joydeb Roaja, Go Back to Roots #15  2020

This one of four large black and white drawings in Tate’s collection from Joydeb Roaja’s series Go Back to Roots 2020 (see Tate T16302—5). The drawings are executed in pen and ink on white paper and show the interconnectedness of human bodies and nature. In Go Back to Roots # 12 two naked bodies are partly covered and enmeshed in tree roots and other natural elements, to uncanny effect. The individuals’ own hair and garments seem to be entangled and braided into the roots and twigs, while one of the figures reaches out a bare foot and hands. Their pale skin contrasts against the densely worked background. A similar effect is created in Go Back to Roots # 15, in which a person, partly covered by roots, seems to be clutching at the bark of a tree to pull themselves up.

Joydeb Roaja, Go Back to Roots #12  2020

This one of four large black and white drawings in Tate’s collection from Joydeb Roaja’s series Go Back to Roots 2020 (see Tate T16302—5). The drawings are executed in pen and ink on white paper and show the interconnectedness of human bodies and nature. In Go Back to Roots # 12 two naked bodies are partly covered and enmeshed in tree roots and other natural elements, to uncanny effect. The individuals’ own hair and garments seem to be entangled and braided into the roots and twigs, while one of the figures reaches out a bare foot and hands. Their pale skin contrasts against the densely worked background. A similar effect is created in Go Back to Roots # 15, in which a person, partly covered by roots, seems to be clutching at the bark of a tree to pull themselves up.

Abel Rodríguez, The Tree of Life and Abundance  2020

Bruce Conner, CROSSROADS  1976

Gallery label, April 2025

Minerva Cuevas, Dodgem Shell  2000

Zheng Bo, Pteridophilia I  2016

Zheng describes ferns as ‘queer plants’. Ferns reproduce from spores rather than seeds. Spores land on the ground and germinate, maturing into plants known as gametophytes. Gametophytes can be male, female or intersex, meaning they have both male and female sexual organs. They typically reproduce with one another but can reproduce asexually if necessary. As the artist explains, ‘I think our sexuality is also much more complex than just sperms and eggs… I hope we will start to see hypernormality as the minuscule portion of life on earth, whereas the great majority is queerness.’

Gallery label, April 2025

Joydeb Roaja, Go Back to Roots #26  2020

This one of four large black and white drawings in Tate’s collection from Joydeb Roaja’s series Go Back to Roots 2020 (see Tate T16302—5). The drawings are executed in pen and ink on white paper and show the interconnectedness of human bodies and nature. In Go Back to Roots # 12 two naked bodies are partly covered and enmeshed in tree roots and other natural elements, to uncanny effect. The individuals’ own hair and garments seem to be entangled and braided into the roots and twigs, while one of the figures reaches out a bare foot and hands. Their pale skin contrasts against the densely worked background. A similar effect is created in Go Back to Roots # 15, in which a person, partly covered by roots, seems to be clutching at the bark of a tree to pull themselves up.

Joydeb Roaja, Go Back to Roots #27  2020

This one of four large black and white drawings in Tate’s collection from Joydeb Roaja’s series Go Back to Roots 2020 (see Tate T16302—5). The drawings are executed in pen and ink on white paper and show the interconnectedness of human bodies and nature. In Go Back to Roots # 12 two naked bodies are partly covered and enmeshed in tree roots and other natural elements, to uncanny effect. The individuals’ own hair and garments seem to be entangled and braided into the roots and twigs, while one of the figures reaches out a bare foot and hands. Their pale skin contrasts against the densely worked background. A similar effect is created in Go Back to Roots # 15, in which a person, partly covered by roots, seems to be clutching at the bark of a tree to pull themselves up.