The Fierce Criticism of Nancy Spero’s Patriarchy You can still see it in A Short Century. MACBA Collection
“I used fragmented quotes from Antonin Artaud – of his desperation, humour, misogyny and violent language. He speaks of his tongue being cut!, silenced. I fragmented these quotes with images I had painted – disembodied heads, defiant, phallic tongues on tense male, female and androgynous figures, victims in straight jackets, mythological or alchemical references, etc. I was literally sticking my tongue out at the world – woman silenced, victimised and brutalised, hysterical, talking “in tongues”. These descriptions of women fit Artaud’s writings and behaviour. But as a male character, he is canonised because of his “Otherness” – his disruption of language.” Nancy Spero spoke of her forceful serie on Artaud, one of the MACBA works that you can still see on display.
