The Body: drawing that evokes a response

THE BODY

Terribly Wrong, Tracey Emin, monoprint

I was struck by the blankness of the page. I then felt dread and terror upon seeing the content of the piece; a visceral response. A woman is on the floor on her back with what looks to me to be a discharge from her vagina (possibly miscarriage) between her legs as though it just came out of her. The words “SOMETHINGS WRONG” is written just above the figure with “Terribly wrong” written in cursive but in reverse. I’m suddenly pulled into the psychological state of the figure in the scene: panic, fear, and paralysis. The line quality is scratchy and uneven (monoprint technique?) and lends itself to conveying those feelings. The reversed writing makes me think of dyslexia or fried thought patterns brought on by the shock/horror of the event. I find it interesting that a handful of scratches on paper can affect me in such a physical way.