Jacob’s Ladder:
Franco and Elke J.
 
 

2002
A photograph sealed under plexiglass and mounted (MDF), (63cm x 94.5cm)

 

This double-profile-portrait combines the image of a Spanish 25 peseta coin from 1957 and a cutting from a German magazine in 1994. On the left, into the cheek of General Franco's face, a swastika has been carved. Opposite Francisco is the photographic image of Elke J. a disabled German teenager who claimed that skinheads had attacked her and scratched a swastika onto her cheek. The scarification turned out to be self-inflicted. In the press photo her identity has been protected; a black line covers her eyes making her appear anonymous or blinkered.

Tanya Ury