Camille Henrot: Mother Tongue
Julika Bosch and Hélène Cixous
Over the past twenty years, Camille Henrot has developed a critically acclaimed practice that moves seamlessly between drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, and film. Mother Tongue is Henrot’s first publication focused solely on painting and drawing, bringing together over 200 works from the series System of Attachment, Wet Job, and Soon, created between 2018 and 2022. This recent body of work addresses the ambivalent nature of care and the tension between the simultaneous developmental need for attachment and independence, beginning at infancy and continuing throughout life. Her deeply personal and intimate interrogations ultimately relate to broader questions such as the expectations placed on mothers and the representation of the female body.
This richly illustrated catalogue is accompanied by texts from Emily LaBarge, Legacy Russell, Marcus Steinweg, Hélene Cixous, Seamus Kealy, and a conversation with Camille Henrot and curator Julika Bosch.
CAMILLE HENROT (*1978, Paris) is recognized as one of the most influential voices in contemporary art today. Drawing upon references from literature, psychoanalysis, cultural anthropology, and the banality of everyday life, she questions what it means to be both a private individual and a global subject. Henrot has had numerous solo exhibitions worldwide, including the Munch Museum, Oslo; Palais de Tokyo, Paris, the New Museum, New York; Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen. She lives and works between Berlin and New York City.