Art in Context | Memory and Paint: A Therapeutic Encounter Between Artist and Observer
Michael Kaplan, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, will explore how Tracey Emin’s paintings invite the viewer into her conscious and unconscious thoughts, much like the dialogue between therapist and patient.
About this program
Tracey Emin has stated that in painting, “everything has come through me,” that her feelings “entered my mind, travelled through my heart, my blood, arriving at the end of my hand.” Her paintings hold her feelings through gesture, brushstroke, color, line, and erasure. The paintings in this exhibition share difficult narratives and directly address challenging, sensitive subjects. Many of Emin’s narratives, based in experiences of trauma, invite the viewer into her conscious and unconscious thoughts, much like the dialogue between therapist and patient. In this talk, Michael Kaplan will explore how Emin communicates to the observer the role of memory, isolation, grief, rage, loss, and hope as she lays bare her vulnerability and reclaims her narrative.
About Michael Kaplan
Dr. Michael Kaplan is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and assistant clinical professor, Yale Child Study Center. In addition to his teaching and private practice, he consults with many independent and public schools throughout Connecticut.
Art in Context
Presented by faculty, staff, student guides, and visiting scholars, these gallery talks focus on a particular work of art in the museum’s collections or special exhibitions through an in-depth look at its style, subject matter, technique, or time period.
Top image
Visitor in front of Tracey Emin's I Followed you to the end (2024), photo by Stephanie Anestis
