for Francesca Woodman
medium format intimacy
10,000 negatives survive
120 culled for display
30 years after the suicide:
Self Deceit #1
another year of dishonesty
psychic risk of embodying an artist
your face was unidentifiable
a persona defenestration
rewind from tragedy
address the art (she would prefer it)
pernicious action you presaged had
‘nothing to do with melodrama’
Francesca as Alice
delicate, fragile interior
probed by a functioning interrogator
superego peering in from the edges
(who exactly obliterated you?)
Francesca Woodman
you invented a visual language where
clothes pins pinch flesh,
wallpaper camouflages or liberates,
women unbutton identity
‘I am floating in plasma…
I am so vain…
I was (I am?) not unique but special
This is why I was an artist’
Sloan as Francesca’s Doppleganger
Quotes are from Francesca Woodman’s journals and letters
Linked to Poetics at dVerse http://dversepoets.com/2012/06/30/poetics-button-button/
Chromapoetica 
fascinating anna…love the numbers in the opening..another year of dishonesty
psychic risk of embodying an artist…very cool line and another touch to it in the close as well…with that great quote…
You’re a rock star, I would definitely have asked someone else to deal with hosting. Hope you are keeping cool and staying safe.
Really enjoyed this Anna, and thank you for introducing me to the work of Francesca Woodman, I have been looking her up since I read this and love her images.
Glad you’ve taken an interest in her work; she’s worth the time :)!
I always learn something new when I visit you, thanks Anna!
You’re welcome.
You make me think too hard. Love the images!
Sorry Charles, surely by now you know what you’re in for during a visit to Chromapoesy :).
for some reason, this reminded me of Anna Frank (could it be the name) but of course, there were no pictures taken while she was up in the attic, and none before her death…but that’s what i was thinking of with this…and she was an artist, and she continued writing, so that she would exist forever.
3 radio button senryu
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I’ll be by to read your poem after a dinner break :).
Those 1st and 3rd images are spooky. Fabulous images thought. As per usual, your prose is exceptional.
Thank you, they haunted me too.
Those are some riveting photographs, and your poem certainly illuminates the psyche of the artist. I especially like the opening, and the ‘clothes pins pinching flesh’ stanza.
I was introduced to her work again today through a documentary film. I think Gay used one of her photographs a while ago and I didn’t connect the dots from my modern art overview. I’m glad you gleaned something from her work; I always appreciate your comments.
This is really powerful. I think the interplay between the great photos and the poetry work amazingly well, emotionally and intellectually. The way you weave together the quotes and your own words, it’s quite musical and mesmerizing. I really really liked this.
There are personal and artistic connecting points between us. I began taking photographs at 6 with some of the same concerns and techniques (minus the figures). Of all the artists I’ve written about she’s the one I’ve felt most ‘inside’ of in a symbiotic way. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me, it’s wonderful to know some of that intensity was conveyed.
your clear phrases really call these stunning images out. I will definitely be seeking more of Francesca Woodman’s work. thank you, Anna.
I hope you enjoy the exploration. She was only 22, all her magnificent work made before, starting in her teens.
Whoa – what a tale. My ears automatically pick up with defenestration. I had heard of her vaguely – probably from some book review article so super superficially – but looked her up more. Very sad. Some people just very sensitive – obviously. Such an interesting poem. k.
Here it felt appropriate (she jumped out of a window). Yes, probably part of what made her a stunning artist. Thanks k!
The photos have a creepy effect and the black/white enhanced the feel. The verse is weaved nicely around them.You always have a knack of choosing a perfect one. Wonderful,Anna!
Hank
Yes, they are haunting. Thank you Hank; I’ll be by soon to read yours!
Your words and Francesca Woodman beautiful and deep combination Anna you have done us proud
Thank you, what a lovely thing to say!
oh heck…this is absolutely fascinating..love how you show us snapshots of her in your verse anna..
Oh Claudia, thanks for the smile this morning!
they seem tender even in black and white
a year of dishonesty sounds heavy
but it sounds as though it has an end
I thought so too :). Thanks Janet!
Wow, thank you for making me discover a new artist. I like the alternation of stanzas and photographs, that’s beautiful, minimalist. Great word choice (like “defenestration”).
Always a pleasure, I felt minimalism was appropriate. Thank you!
A powerful and gripping tale from which you have constructed a uniquely compelling post. Quite unforgettable.
David, what a beautiful compliment; I look forward to reading your poem.
Dude. You used “defenestration” in a poem. You’re awesome!
Next to the window throwing, the women unbuttoning their identities is my favorite part. Like our identity is something we wear. A heavy coat in winter, a light sweater in the spring, swimsuit in the summer. Something to be removed with relief before climbing into bed at night. Really vivid image.
I enjoyed this one muchly. Love you!
I like the idea of relief and how you’ve described identity. Aw, thanks, I love you too!
PS – Anna – I’m sure you’ve seen her 13 year old self-portrait. Pretty amazing. I do feel terribly sorry for parents though. k.
Me too, after all this time they’re still caught up in her legacy. Though I can’t help but wonder about their role.
Well, I can certain imagine as a parent being caught up forever in the legacy of a lost child. And, hard to know–you know some people just have chemical issues, a certain kind of sensitivity, which at that age can be especially dramatic and dangerous – hard to even speculate, really –
You do speculate, in a gentle way, in your poem but by quoting her, and also focusing on this issue of people becoming more enamored by dramatic story than the art. But of course there is a melodrama in it all, even in the work, and one can imagine that someone that committed to art and their work and issues of identity at a young age could be very dramatic and unlucky. By unlucky, I mean, that an incident averted might not necessarily have happened later. I do think there can be these terrible combinations of circumstance and chemistry, and parents may not help but may not be able to stop either. , I don’t know. k.
Yes, a mess from both sides and we’ll never know the why, the combination of factors that initiated her act. Her father asserts that it was upon finding she hadn’t been awarded an NEA grant (back when they gave them to individual artists). I have an intuition based on her journals and sex life but it’s only that and I don’t mean to blame anyone in the work including her. It’s such a complicated scenario and a complex legacy for them to handle. Her photos sell for 10s of thousands of dollars, one acquaintance joked that he sold one every time he needed to put one of his kids through college. The art world is a viscous and depraved place sometimes, exploiting and feeding into tragedy for money.
Yes I was going to enter into a conversation much like the one you’re having here with K. I think that was such a “brink” in the mid 70s. Everyone now thinks the transition came in the 60s with The Feminine Mystique and the world opened up for women; but it did NOT. The over-riding expectation was the return to the Victorian male-dominated, woman submissive culture of the 50s (see Mona Lisa Smile). That persisted right up to the political actions of women and GLBT in the late 70s and 80s into the 90s. The 60s were still consumed with the Black Civil Rights Movement. It took another decade + for those rights to expand to other disenfranchised groups — artists are always somewhat on the margins of society which, when hyper sensitive or with an altered chemistry pushes one still further. But help was so close then, and change was on its way! Wonderful exposition here, Anna.
Thank you Gay, I enjoyed your insightful and informative comment very much!
Fascinating. Loved the way you turned the quotes into a poem, and I love seeing the Woodman
photos again.
Thanks, I enjoy working quotes into the body of my poems. It’s always a challenge to deal with tone and style. Nice to meet you.
She was amazing and so are you. You’ve captured her beautifully ; )
-Eva
Oh Eva, what a pleasant surprise at the end of my day. I always appreciate your kindness :).
quite fascinating what you did with her work and quotes…leaving so much to the imagination and wonder of it all. After looking at some more of her work, I can’t help but shake my head in awe? disbelief? or in response to my gut-level unease about her vision behind these photos, especially since she was so young. Young in age, but it seems she was versed well-beyond her years, which usually isn’t a good thing. Her photos make me feel very sad.
Between you and me I think she was sexually abused.
ya think? The mood, her choice of b and w (dreary, lackluster, colorless,) the settings (old, filty environments), her techniques (blurring, hiding behind wall paper, etc.) the nudity, the emotionless expressions, everything about each photo suggests nothing less. So sad.
Great points Sheila, I agree with all of them. I try to avoid my triggers from her work, probably why I don’t have a book of it and didn’t use her nude self-portaits here. I think this display of disempowerment is also why she is a collector favorite (my piece on The Collector explored the theme of possession and its interconnection to sexuality). Of course there are other views but I have a hard time seeing them.
I’m curious…what are the other views?
One art critic, Elizabeth Janus seems to sum up a sense that Francesca was actually empowered by her role as photographer and subject, ‘Again both playful and erotic, these photographs indicate at the same time a lightness of spirit, an acute formal sense and a witty symbolism that was all her own.’ I think this eroticism ties in to what I was saying about possession. I think self-possession is an enormous issue for young girls that are abused and what may drive them to art. Her art to me seems stuck in an unhealthy dialogue that doesn’t reclaim but further exploits. Again, these are just my opinions, colored by my own trauma and may have nothing to do with her work or reality. However, I chose her work precisely for this interaction and questioning, to challenge my views, explore my responses, and encourage the reader to do the same. Thanks Sheila, this has been a fascinating conversation.
you are welcome. I, too, am drawn to the psyche of childhood trauma victims (in an effort to understand my own, I suppose.) Regarding Janus’s views…I don’t know of any teenager who displays this type of self-empowerment and confidence. That develops much later in life. The emotional and cognitive development of a teenager does not allow for it. There’s no arguing biological developemnt, which is why I said in my original comment that she seems well-verse beyond her age which means she has experienced too much too young.
As far as the Janus quote, I see nothing playful about these photos. I see self-hatred, lost innocence, shame, and fear (why else would she exclude her face from so many of the photos or worse is that one of her and two other girls with photos of her held in front of their faces plus one also taped to the wall – talk about dissociation and severed identity – she has herself divided into 4 separate entities here!) This photo along with the one of her behind the wall paper really stood out to me for some reason…like she is saying that she is the wall, a wall in a dilapidated structure (symbolic of her family or maybe just of herself???) She hides in the walls, in containers, behind a fireplace frame, behind sheets, hiding, hiding, hiding. Hiding does not speak to “empowerment” in my opinion.
And lightness of spirit and witty symbolism are absurd conclusions but what do I know – I am no art critic. From what I can tell, Woodsman’s parents would not have let Janus organized Francesca’s exhibition if she didn’t have these light-hearted views on her work, however. Just sayin’.
I know with you that I am preaching to the choir 🙂 but it’s been enjoyable. Thanks!
Preach on! I loved hearing it; so much I felt too, especially the dissociation you discuss.
quotes.. verse and pics..
post like this r treat to readers 🙂
Awesome read Anna !!!!
Thanks Jyoti, so happy to hear you enjoyed it!
“rewind from tragedy
address the art (she would prefer it)”
Someone would prefer it! As if she had an heir that would press charges! You make me think of Marilyn Monroe too, inspected and dissected after the fact to expose a self that no one wanted to know until. God, if only she was the director of her own art. And here, every relic speaks and because of your art, some listen.
Susan, I don’t know why your comments keep ending up in spam but I’m sorry I didn’t see this one or the one on High Tension until now. You make some excellent points!
fascinating Anna for some reason reminded me of Anne Frank – hiding – shielding – you gave such words to these provoking images – hugs Lib
Yes, another reader thought that too. Thank you for reading two poems this morning, I feel honored :).
Fascinating. Rich. It’s amazing to think all these disconnected thoughts that seem to lead in so many directions all come to the one place…
Yes, a fractured self becomes an obliterated self.