In this video, you will study the beginning of Leonora Carrington’s practice through a series of her books and paintings. To help you navigate it, we suggest answering the following questions while you watch it.
What does the concept of “perpetual becoming” mean to you?
Why do we study her work from a Latin American perspective if she was born in Britain?
How did she portray the concept of Tartarus/Hell or the deep abyss in the Hearing Trumpet, and how does this concept help us navigate her work?
How do you think it affected her being born with such a privileged background?
Why did she reject it?
How did her mother’s family affect or influence her practice?
Why did she reject her role as a debutante? How did she portray this feeling in her short story? (If you want to read it, we will list the book below)
Why do you think she chose a hyena to replace her? Why that animal in particular?
What do you think she meant when she said her work was not metaphorical?
Why do you think she portrayed herself in such a way in her self-portrait? Why do you think she chose that outfit?
Why do you think she included the hyena again, depicting it as if the animal was breastfeeding at the time?
What was the meaning behind the two horses? How did she depict them in her short story The Oval Lady? (This book is also listed below)
Why do you think she transformed herself into that animal?
Why do you think it was important for her to transform herself into another being or totem?