Head VI 1998

Editor: This is Per Inge Bjørlo's "Head VI" from the Tate collection. It looks like an etching. The swirling lines definitely give me a sense of anxiety. What do you see in this piece? Curator: The image reverberates with the symbolism of the human skull, mortality, and the fragility of consciousness. Bjørlo’s frenetic lines, resembling tangled wires, might represent the tormented psyche, the web of thoughts and memories that constitute the self. Editor: So, it's not just about death, but the confusion of being alive? Curator: Precisely! The visual language speaks to a deeper, perhaps universal, sense of existential unease, where the boundaries between reality and perception blur. It makes you consider your own symbols, doesn't it? Editor: Definitely. I'll never look at a skull the same way again. Curator: Nor will I. There is something so raw about this piece.