Back-to-Back 1973

Here is an etching by Christina Ramberg, titled 'Back-to-Back,' made with etching on paper. Ramberg's diptych makes me think about her intense focus on the female form, a lot of the time focusing on the midriff and the ways in which clothing can constrict and shape the body. Looking at this, I think about what it must have been like to cut into that metal plate, the intense concentration. And here, it feels like she's doing it twice, once on each plate, but they mirror each other, which makes me think about the doubling and mirroring effects of psychoanalysis. These figures are like bodies under construction. The lines are like bandages or some kind of binding that is creating a kind of surface tension. There's an intensity to the mark-making that feels psychologically charged, like a coded language. The more you look, the more you realise there is an ongoing conversation about the body across time.