Central negative photographic image of a woman lying down in a fetal position with her arms wrapped around her head; collage of photographic images at bottom creating a worm with the head of a woman, seen from under her chin; black paper with cutouts in background; swirling, abstract imagery on rectangular section, LRC; five white cutout flowers with twisted paper stems below image of woman lying down

%C2%A9 1992 Kiki Smith%2F Universal Limited Art Editions

Worm, 1992

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On View in Gallery 369expand_more

Kiki Smith has explored ideas of mortality, decay, and femininity through images of the body—usually her own. Here, she has dissected photographs of herself to create a worm-like figure, emerging below a body contorted into the fetal position and framed by a rectangle. Is the shape constricting or comforting her' The curled figure is a photographic negative, creating an unnatural glow that dissolves the face and hands—as though the body were decaying into light.

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Details
Title
Worm
Artist Life
American, born Germany, 1954
Role
Artist
Accession Number
2011.74.14
Provenance
Private collection, Minneapolis; given to MIA, 2011.
Catalogue Raisonne
Krakow 23; Weitman 64
Curator Approved

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Central negative photographic image of a woman lying down in a fetal position with her arms wrapped around her head; collage of photographic images at bottom creating a worm with the head of a woman, seen from under her chin; black paper with cutouts in background; swirling, abstract imagery on rectangular section, LRC; five white cutout flowers with twisted paper stems below image of woman lying down

© 1992 Kiki Smith/ Universal Limited Art Editions

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