On March 29—one month before the official publication date of Nancy Spero’s Torture of Women on April 30—we will begin posting short essays, meditations, and responses to Torture of Women by artists, activists, writers, scholars and others we have invited to contribute to the blog. We also invite you and look forward to your contributions to the conversation, too. (See the page: How do you join the conversation?)
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Torture of Women, by acclaimed feminist artist Nancy Spero, juxtaposes first person testimony by female victims of torture with startling imagery drawn from ancient mythology. A public cry of outrage as well as a nuanced exploration of the continuum of violence against women, it is a work of art that—even thirty years after it was originally created—is ever radical, raising provocative questions that cross the borders of art, politics, feminism, and human rights.
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Siglio’s publication of Torture of Women “translates” this epic, 125 ft. image+text work into nearly 100 pages of detail so that the entirety of the work—with legible texts and vibrant color reproductions—can be experienced with immediacy and intimacy. The book was conceived not to simply catalog the work but to create a space in which the reader can fully engage it as it unfolds from page to page. The design of the book encourages multiple acts of reading Torture of Women—as an innovative and polyphonous narrative, as a feminist disquisition, as a register of political protest and outrage, and as a fierce and enduring work of art.
With a story by Luisa Valenzuela, an excerpt from Elaine Scarry’s The Body in Pain, and an essay by Diana Nemiroff. ISBN: 978-0-9799562-2-5.
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The book can be ordered directly from Siglio beginning March 22. Sign up for the Siglio mailing list to get a 20% off discount valid until the publication date. Once the book has been released, it can be purchased on-line at Siglio or from your local, independent bookstore, as well as museum and contemporary art center stores nationwide.
