Self Portrait with Skull 1997

Curator: Here we see Sarah Lucas’s “Self Portrait with Skull,” part of the Tate collection. Editor: It's immediately striking—a modern memento mori, laced with nonchalance. The skull feels less like a symbol of death and more like an object, a prop almost. Curator: Precisely. Note how Lucas disrupts the vanitas tradition through compositional choices. The symmetrical arrangement, the placement of the skull at the center—it all reduces the dramatic impact, flattening the symbolic space. Editor: And the sneakers! The Adidas sneakers grounding the image in contemporary culture. It’s the juxtaposition of the ephemeral, fashionable object against the timeless symbol of mortality. Curator: Yes, and the gaze. It's direct, unflinching. This isn't a passive contemplation of mortality; it's an assertion. A declaration of self in the face of the inevitable. Editor: It seems she reclaims the symbol, subverting its traditional meaning. What seemed somber reveals a sense of irony. Curator: Indeed, a complex interplay of form and iconography that speaks volumes about the self and its representation. Editor: A compelling reinvention of symbolic language, making this an image that lingers.