Helen CHADWICK British, 1953-1996
Loop My Loop, 1991
Cibachrome transparency, glass, steel, electrical apparatus
127 x 76 x 15 cm
Edition of 3. Only two of the editions were made.
'Loop My Loop' exists as a tableau where golden locks of hair are intertwined with a pig's intestine and photographed as a modern Baroque still life. Here, Chadwick disrupts our...
'Loop My Loop' exists as a tableau where golden locks of hair are intertwined with a pig's intestine and photographed as a modern Baroque still life. Here, Chadwick disrupts our expectations; the most ornate image associated with beauty is made repellent through its juxtaposition with something also natural, but out of context, visceral and grotesque. Hair, a fetishised form of femininity as well as a form of 'memento mori', was often incorporated in Victorian jewellery to commemorate a loved one. In this light box, Chadwick links hair with the physical remains of death, a poignant reminder of death and loss.
Helen Chadwick’s Loop My Loop (1991) exists as a tableau where golden locks of hair are intertwined with a pig’s intestine and photographed as a modern Baroque still life. Here, Helen Chadwick disrupts our expectations; the most ornate image associated with beauty is made repellent through its juxtaposition with something also natural, but out of context, visceral and grotesque.
Chadwick, who taught many of the YBAs passed away abruptly at the age of 43. This loss was significant as she was one of Britain’s most important feminist artists.
Helen Chadwick’s Loop My Loop (1991) exists as a tableau where golden locks of hair are intertwined with a pig’s intestine and photographed as a modern Baroque still life. Here, Helen Chadwick disrupts our expectations; the most ornate image associated with beauty is made repellent through its juxtaposition with something also natural, but out of context, visceral and grotesque.
Chadwick, who taught many of the YBAs passed away abruptly at the age of 43. This loss was significant as she was one of Britain’s most important feminist artists.
Exhibitions
ARTIST ROOMS Louise Bourgeois | Helen Chadwick | Robert Mapplethorpe, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 12 July 2025–31 May 2026In-Side-Out-Side-In, Site Gallery, Sheffield, 2022
Northern exposure: leading contemporary photography, Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, MD, 1998
Surroundings: Helen Chadwick, Hannah Collins, Willie Doherty, Steven Pippin, Catherine Yass, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel, 1997 Stilled Lives: Helen Chadwick, Portfolio Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1996
In Memoriam – Helen Chadwick, Galerie Eugen Lendl, Graz, Austria, 1996
Radikale Bilder: 2. Österreichische Triennale zur Fotografie, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria, 1996
fémininmasculin: Le sexe de l’art, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France, 1995
O2: Helen Chadwick, Hermione Wiltshire, Zone Gallery, Newcastle, UK, 1994
Helen Chadwick: Flesh and Flower, Zelda Cheatle Gallery, London, UK 1994
effluvia Helen Chadwick, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany, 1994. This exhibition travelled to Fundació la Caixa, Barcelona, Spain and Serpentine Gallery, London, UK.
Bad Girls, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK, 1994
Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK, 1992
Helen Chadwick: Meat Lamps, The British School, Rome, Italy, 1992
Long live the new flesh: an exhibition of new art by Helen Chadwick, Andres Serrano & Thomas Grünfeld, Kettle’s Yard Gallery, Cambridge, UK, 1991
De light: Helen Chadwick, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA, 1991
Literature
Helen Chadwick: Life Pleasures. (Laura Smith ed.) Hepworth Wakefield, Yorkshire, 2025. Illius. p. 106Leonie O'Dwyer, Helen Chadwick: a critical catalogue raisonné, Leeds 2012 (illustrated in colour, no. 126).
Belfast, Ormeau Baths Gallery, And the One Doesn’t Stir without the Other, 2003 (illustrated in colour, p. 29).
Pawel Leszkowicz, Helen Chadwick: ikonografia podmiotowosci, Krakow 2001 (illustrated in colour, no. 27).
Helena Reckitt (ed.), Art and Feminism, New York 2001 (p. 42).
David Hopkins, After Modern Art 1945-2000, Oxford, 2000 (illustrated in colour, p. 227).
Rosemary Betterton, An Intimate Distance: Women, Artists and the Body, London 1996 (p. 142).
Jackie Heuman (ed.), From marble to chocolate: the conservation of modern sculpture: Tate Gallery Conference, 18-20 September 1995, London 1995 (illustrated in colour, p. 156).
Helen Chadwick, 'Helen Chadwick on Frida Kahlo' in BBC Education (ed.), Artists' Journeys, London 1992 (illustrated in colour, p. 19).
Andrew Benjamin (ed.), Architecture, Space, Painting, London 1992 (illustrated in colour, p. 68).
