Acephala, Acephala! Headless Figure in Francesca Woodman’s Work.

Abstract

The aim of the article is to demonstrate one of the most characteristic and at the same time most overlooked qualities of Francesca Woodman’s photographs – decapitation, or more specifically auto-decapitation of picture’s subject. The act of beheading by the picture frame cannot be interpreted as a technical aspect or as the artist’s lack of control over the shooting process. Neither should it be comprehended as a project of anti-biography. A more convincing interpretation can be founded on the association of Woodman’s work with such surrealist dissidents as Michel Leiris, André Masson, and Georges Bataille. The act of auto-decapitation for Leiris is obligatory in order to address oneself since one is never able to see him- or herself fully. For Bataille decapitation represents the human revolt against one’s form, viewed as an act of liberation. Woodman initiates the inter-textual play with the figure of the Acephalé (headless) known from the surrealists’ writings and art (Masson). She perpetuates the revolutionary message while modifying it by implementing the female body. But the result is opposite to the straightforward critique of women’s decapitation as an act of men’s oppression. Woodman’s Acephala break up with conventional representation and uses of the body – in this way her art becomes familiar with affirmative reflections on the hysterical body by authors including Hélène Cixous and Julia Kristeva.