Patricia Piccinini: Holding Tight and Letting Go | Ames Yavuz
This exhibition cast a spell on me this week. Australian artist Patricia Piccinini is deeply interested in how we relate to family, to friends, to the natural world, organic or artificial. In her work, none of that is straightforward.
The artist builds sculptures of uncanny, chimerical beings that sit at the edges of biological category. Silicone, fibreglass, human hair. The anatomical fidelity is disarming. Leaning over ‘The Couple’, from 2018 and pictured below, I could have sworn I saw one of the sleeping creatures breathe.
Her figures trigger something almost parental in me, with their soft skin, realistic eyes, rounded noses. Big hairy feet with talons. Body horror isn’t quite right. More body disconcertion. Which, coupled with their care and protection of each other, made them very touching.
Patricia Piccinini: Holding Tight and Letting Go is at Ames Yavuz (London). 04 June - 11 July 2026