Behind the mask exhibition comes to Oswestry
A touring exhibition from the Southbank Centre in London is display at the Qube in Oswestry until June 5.
Claude Cahun: Beneath This Mask is a Hayward Touring exhibition.
Claude Cahun (1894 – 1954) was a French photographer and writer famous for her ambiguous photographic portraits. Born Lucy Schwob, the artist assumed the pseudonym Claude Cahun – a gender-neutral French forename coupled with her grandmother’s surname – in 1917. With this new identity Cahun was able to distance herself from her well-known literary family and reject what she saw as the narrow confines of gender.
In 1938 Cahun escaped the impending Nazi occupation of France and fled to Jersey with her lover and collaborator Marcel Moore. It was in Jersey that Cahun began the photographic work that she is best know for: a series of theatrical tableaus which see the artist blur and distort her age, identity, gender and surroundings in order to assume different personas.
Largely unknown during her own lifetime, Cahun’s photographs have only recently received critical attention.
Entry to the exhibition is free and booking is not required. Qube is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and Saturday’s 9:30am to 12:30pm.
