Rachel Kneebone : Raft of the Medusa

29 Sep 2017-7 Jan 2018

Overview

The Foundling Museum displays a series of five previously unseen porcelain sculptures by artist Rachel Kneebone. Displayed in the historic rooms, the works distil and abstract the Museum’s suppressed narratives of sexual desire, emotional damage and female strength, whilst also referencing ideas of displacement, refuge, and resilience. Raft of the Medusa’s tumbling limbs and fractured swags are at once coquettish and sinister; their gleaming white surfaces and exquisite detail belie scenes of collapse. Visibly exploiting the material properties of porcelain, Kneebone allows her work to distort and crack in the kiln, inviting viewers to question the relationship between strength and vulnerability.