Marina Warner on Kiki Smith and Helen Chadwick
In episode 84 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the\xa0historian, mythographer, critic and novelist MARINA WARNER on Kiki Smith and Helen Chadwick!!!\n\nA writer of fiction and cultural history, with a special focus on myths and fairy tales and the role of women, Marina Warner is one of the leading art writers, and in the past few years published an extensive collection of essays in Forms of Enchantment: Writings on Art and Artists. This incredible book, exploring discussions on myths, transformation, and alchemy, includes texts on the two artists we will discuss today: Kiki Smith and the late, great British artist, Helen Chadwick.\n\nKiki Smith (b.1954) is an American artist who works across tapestry, sculpture and more, exploring ideas of mythology and regeneration. Inspired by the changes in the seasons and her own perception of animals as they change throughout the year, in her work, Smith addresses the social and spiritual aspects of human nature.\xa0Fusing images of medieval folklore with mysticism, Smith\u2019s work blends the earthly and the fantastic, and deals with the fragility of life as well as drawing us to the details of our own ecosystem.\xa0\n\nHelen Chadwick (c.1953\u20131996) was a feminist pioneer. One of the first women artists to be nominated for the Turner Prize, Chadwick was known for challenging stereotypical perceptions of the body in unconventional forms. Reinventing what a female nude could be in her work, her famous works include\xa0Ego\xa0Geometria Sum (https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/chadwick-ego-geometria-sum-the-labours-i-x-74215) and The Oval Court,\xa0part of the installation 'Of Mutability'.\xa0Chadwick had used the a range of dead animals in the installation and used the scanner of the photocopier to position the animals in animated poses as if in life. She used a blue pigment toner in this work to suggest other physical spaces such as the sea (https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1032036/the-oval-court-sphere-chadwick-helen/)\n\nENJOY!\n\nFollow us: \nKaty Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel\nSound editing by Nada Smiljanic\nResearch assistant: Viva Ruggi\nArtwork by @thisisaliceskinner\nMusic by Ben Wetherfield\n\nhttps://www.thegreatwomenartists.com/