Let the monuments be eroticized

Christoforidou, Maria ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9894-9643 (2025) Let the monuments be eroticized. In: Helen Chadwick : Life Pleasures. Thames and Hudson, London. ISBN 9780500028889 (In Press)

Text (Essay on Hellen Chadwick, for Hepworth Wakefield exhibition) Let the monuments be eroticized_MC.pdf - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only until 1 January 2099. Download (730kB) | Request a copy

Abstract / Summary

"Let the monuments be eroticised" is a poetic and critical essay exploring the affects of Hellenic culture in the work of Hellen Chadwick. It all starts pilgrimage to the Helen Chadwick archive in Leeds to find minor threads in the photographs to weave personal and artistic histories, with family albums. Hellenic mythology, Sapphic poetry and the Hellenic Orthodox church.
What does it mean to be Hellenic? One thing it can mean, is boasting an affinity with the Hellenic language. We look at - The hand as symbol of Hellenic culture. Internal monuments, the mother’s body, flesh. The air is different on the hill of nymphs – Do myths lie? Do hills lie?

This text is part of the first ever critical biography of Helen Chadwick, accompanying a retrospective exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield.

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