Cloth Head (Mother), 1997-98

The cloth heads are perhaps Shenstone’s most celebrated and idiosyncratic works. It’s a technique that she began developing during her studies at the Royal College of Art in London. Cloth is pinched, puckered, stuffed and sewn in such a way that the likeness of the subject appears as an indelible impression, as if his face has been pushed or pulled through the cloth. Notably, Francis Bacon purchased Shenstone’s first cloth head, ‘Janet’ and later commissioned her to make his portrait using the same technique. We’ve also photographed this work backlit by natural light, which simultaneously reveals the opacity and transparency of the surface. As Shenstone puts it, cloth has similar qualities to skin: “It’s warm to the touch and has the potential for movement, it’s pliable and translucent.”