MIRROR: Til All is Correct, Louise Fago- Ruskin

This exhibition runs until the 30th May 2026

I found this exhibition challenging.  I just didn't have the enough of a shared language with the artist to understand what they were trying to say but it was very clear they were trying to say a lot.  I suspect this is one of those instances where not having any formal art or art history background is a hinderance to enjoying art.

I picked up the leaflet and I understand what is said about the exhibition, but it doesn't help me understand the individual pieces.  I understand not wanting to spoil the aesthetics of an art show by adding lots of written information.  I understand the limitations of a double sided piece of A4.  I think this is where QR codes and things like Bloomberg Arts app can really help a lot.

The themes of the exhibition are ones the artist has been exploring for some time.  These works are part of a body of work developed over some time and the sophistication of the current works was such that I needed the missing steps from the earlier works, or some help catching up.  It may be that I don't have the understanding of the cultural background of these works needed.

What I understand from the leaflet is that Louise lost eighteen relatives during the Shoah (this was a new term to me and what I recognise as the Holocaust).  The artist explores themselves in the context of  a family history where some stories are inherited through silence, or gesture, in fragments.  Against a backdrop of exile and exclusion where ethical remembrance is important.  In this current world, there are so many political issues and instabilities.  Louise explores how some items hold memory, the stories they relate to can be quite heavy and personal.  One such item in the exhibition is the shoe as a reminder of movement, survival and loss.

Louise wants to talk about her trauma, her inherited stories and her relationship with current traumatic world events, but she does not want to exploit it.  This is a difficult dance to accomplish.  To get the audience to slow down, to connect, to understand, without being obvious and traumatic.  How do you create a space to remember such events?

All this I got from the leaflet but I didn't understand it in the exhibition itself.  Maybe I didn't have the cultural background to understand some of the symbolism.  Maybe my brain is a little too literal for this type of exhibition, which is very very possible.  Maybe I just need a little help to bridge that gap.

So what can I say about the exhibition?  The works were visually striking and interesting.  I was not however comfortable in the space, which makes sense.  I didn't want to linger.  I was left a little confused.

I understood some things.  That this was a symbolic comment on difficult realities.  I couldn't access the stories in the items shown in the pictures.  The Apology, made sense to me in some ways, apologies in lots of different languages, but beyond that?  Fault was a sculptural installation of aggregate materials and found shoes and to me it spoke of things left behind in a hurry, in a rush for survival.  There was an uncertain outcome in this piece but in the background of the exhibition and the shoes often left behind by Jewish victims of the Holocaust, it makes sense.  I also understand how some other pieces around shoes could be construed as exploitative.  I can imagine that those who have lost family may be very conflicted in their feelings to some of the memorials.  I can see the scorched earth, marked with charcoal and dust.

The video, last, was impenetrable.  I must admit, I am impatient.  I like it when venues include the length of a film in their information.  I want to know if I am committing 5 minutes of half an hour.  I watched for some minutes, and I didn't understand what I was watching or the emotions it was trying to convey.

I consider myself to be neurodivergent and understanding emotionally complex situations is definitely challenging.  Understanding such situations in my own life is not instinctive and can take a lot of thought and consideration.  At the same time, because I have to analyse such things a lot, I see some things others don't bother too, because they rely on their instinctual, immediate understanding.  All this means I am quite capable of understanding such an exhibition, but I need a little more help from the artist.  I have no doubt that if I spent time with her and she talked to me and handed me the keys to understanding, that it would not be beyond me.  

Or maybe the artist wants to explore these themes without laying every nuance of hurt bare.  That too, is a valid choice