Canto XII: [no title] 1981

Curator: This enigmatic print is titled "Canto XII," made by Esq Tom Phillips. The work is held in the Tate Collections. Editor: It feels heavy, oppressive, almost like a fragmented memory surfacing in shades of red and black. The patterns remind me of woven textile or digital glitches. Curator: Phillips is known for his engagement with found texts. This print likely draws on, and distorts, imagery related to that specific section of Dante's Inferno, recontextualizing it for a modern audience. Editor: So, those blurred figures are likely figures from Dante’s narrative. The distortion perhaps reflects the psychological torment described in that particular canto? Curator: Precisely. The fragmented composition, that grid-like structure, could be interpreted as a visual metaphor for the fragmented self, or a fractured society grappling with the themes of the Inferno. Editor: It leaves me with a sense of unease. The piece offers a complex commentary about trauma and how we visualize inherited narratives.