‘Of her tenacious trace’: Samuel Beckett and Contemporary Art

Abstract

This chapter explores how three contemporary artists, Claire-Lise Holy, Dorothy Cross and Arlene Shechet, have been inspired by Samuel Beckett's prose and drama, works that foreground the need and agony for being perceived and the desire to be still and silent. Holy, Cross and Shechet take up Beckett's themes of gaze and petrification, particularly as seen in Beckett's works for women. For these contemporary artists, distilling the female form on paper, canvas, stone, or video is an act of creating a trace, inviting the viewer to participate, looking upon their women with empathy. Holy, whose drawings of antiquated women resemble those of Beckett's late plays, shares with Beckett the need for us to see these women. Cross, too, draws on the importance of seeing and remaining, inviting us to act our part in recognising that we are only a moment in ancient history. Her female forms, inspired by Footfalls, recede, and as they do so, we are tempted to follow. Drawn to Happy Days, Shechet asks that we look forward beginning conversations about the here, now, and the future. She asks that in the process, creatures like Winnie who cry out, are not forgotten. For this to happen, our gaze must go beyond objectifying Winnie. These artists, like Beckett, challenge us to see differently – a empathic gaze that never forgets.