Spectres, Shreds, Subversions. Matrixial Readings of Francesca Woodman’s Photography

cover
Forthcoming
30 April 2026

Details about this monograph

ISBN-13 (15)
978-83-226-4555-0

Synopsis

The monograph is devoted to the oeuvre of the American photographer Francesca Woodman (1958–1981). The approach proposed by the author is grounded upon Bracha L. Ettinger’s matrixial theory. This theory turns out to be a particularly valuable perspective in the context of Woodman, whose works are usually read through the prism of the young artist’s death by suicide. Ettinger’s thought paves the way for affirmative interpretations of Woodman’s photographs, placing emphasis on such tropes as proximity, fragility, becoming, and encounter. Treating Woodman as a matrixial woman-artist, the book aims at investigating selected motifs found in her art: death, music, spectrality, angels, and voice.

Patronage

Author Biography

Anna Kisiel, University of Silesia in Katowice

A literary scholar, English philologist, and assistant professor at the University of Silesia in Katowice. She has published extensively on Bracha L. Ettinger’s matrixial theory. She is an editorial team member of several academic journals, including ER(R)GO: Theory – Literature – Culture and MAI: Feminism & Visual Culture, and a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences Commission on Literary History (Katowice Branch). Her academic interests revolve around body, femininity, and bonds and relations in the visual arts and literature. Her field of expertise includes matrixial psychoanalysis, trauma studies, and photography theory. She is an author of Corporeal Aesth/ethics: The Body in Bracha L. Ettinger’s Theory and Art (punctum books, 2026). [17.04.2026]

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.