Cecilia Vicuña's 'Living Threads' Opens at Whitechapel Gallery, London
Cecilia Vicuña's first significant exhibition in the UK, titled 'Living Threads', will be held at Whitechapel Gallery in London from 07 October 2026 to 14 February 2027. Vicuña, a Chilean artist born in 1948, combines elements of poetry with visual art. The exhibition showcases 'Quipu Menstrual', a woolen installation representing menstrual cycles. At the age of 17, she began creating 'precarios', delicate earthworks that are susceptible to erosion by water. Some of these London-produced precarios challenge the idea of permanence in sculpture. Additionally, a film connects the melting ice of El Plomo mountain to menstrual themes, emphasizing eco-feminism. The exhibition also delves into the Inca quipu, which Vicuña has utilized for over fifty years, and features her 'Pain Things' paintings, inspired by the Cusco School and Surrealist Leonora Carrington.
Key facts
- 'Living Threads' is Cecilia Vicuña's first major UK exhibition, at Whitechapel Gallery, London, from 07 Oct 2026 to 14 Feb 2027.
- Cecilia Vicuña was born in Chile in 1948 and is known for merging poetry and visual art as a feminist figure.
- In 1966, at age 17, Vicuña created abstract designs on the beach at Con-cón, Chile, called 'precarios'.
- The exhibition includes 'Quipu Menstrual', a hanging installation of unspun red and brown wool evoking menstrual bleeding.
- Vicuña studied at Slade School of Art in London in the early 1970s after the 1973 military coup against Salvador Allende.
- She co-founded Artists for Democracy in 1974 with other Chilean activists in London.
- Her first artist book, 'Saborami', expressed displacement and ecological destruction.
- The final gallery, 'Pain Things', features paintings influenced by the Cusco School and Surrealist Leonora Carrington.
Entities
Artists
- Cecilia Vicuña
- Augusto Pinochet
- Hélène Cixous
- Salvador Allende
- Leonora Carrington
- Sue Hubbard
Institutions
- Whitechapel Gallery
- Slade School of Art
- Artists for Democracy
- Pushkin Press
- Seren Books
- Artlyst
Locations
- Chile
- London
- United Kingdom
- Con-cón
- Aconcagua River
- Pacific Ocean
- El Plomo
- Peru
- Andes
Sources
- Artlyst —