10/06/2021

Things are finally opening back up in England and we've all had a few weeks to get used to being back out and about/going to work on public transport/meeting up with people again etc. At The Hepworth Wakefield, we currently have the largest ever Hepworth retrospective, which spreads across all 10 galleries. Alongside this, the curators have placed 3 female artists whose art speaks to Hepworth's, or whose practice has been inspired by her career (Bridget Riley, Tacita Dean and Veronica Ryan). 

Ryan's work is a collection of cast objects and crochet - on the face of it, it's a quiet and polite offering, but having spent a lot of time with the installation over the past few weeks, I've really enjoyed investing in the work. It's multi layered and evokes personal memory for the artist, whilst also speaking to the woman as maker, craft and labour, alongside natural order and growth. The wall work of black cast magnolias, tied with very subtle coloured thread has an almost animalistic quality, and the white magnolias hidden in the clay vessel on the opposite wall, suggests (to me) a veiled sexual reference.