Chantal Joffe: My dearest dust

Published on the occasion of Chantal Joffe: My dearest dust this catalogue includes full plate images, installation images, studio images taken by Isabelle Young, and an essay by Olivia Laing.

In her catalogue essay, “Giallo,” Lang shares the poignant observation that, “For two decades, Chantal Joffe has painted herself and her daughter Esme…But now a rupture has occurred…The child leaves, the mother stays behind. You wouldn’t file a missing person’s report, but there’s an absence all the same.” 

The exhibition's 26 paintings and 7 works on paper document Joffe at home, in the studio, and out and about in her London neighborhood. Joffe depicts herself in the tub, coming down to the base of the stairs, and at the edge of the bed. She is constantly catching herself in familiar spaces that have been altered by her new, utterly unfamiliar circumstances. Her daughter Esme and her partner Richard do make a few appearances, but this is largely an exhibition of self-portraits. The artist seems to be painting her way towards a redefinition of tender, familial space with one part of her mind on the ever receding past.