Limb Report

Imogen Taylor seeks to represent queer people and their experiences in her works. Recently, she has moved away from abstraction and more coded symbols of queerness, producing works full of legible, if often slippery, forms.

The artist’s 2022 solo exhibition Quiet Motel emphasised nocturnes or nightscapes, evoking dream states and romantic liaisons. Limb Report, too, is marked by low light and intimacy, although the scene might be more everyday. The light comes from cell phones and perhaps a larger, unseen screen. The title, a homophone of ‘LIM report’, recalls the present housing crisis.

Shown from above, the two figures sit together closely and parallel one another in pose. The colours of their chests and fruit-like bellies alternate, underscoring their complementary nature. The careful construction of the painting points to Taylor’s interest in formal abstraction and other modernist art movements as sites of empowerment for marginalised people.

Photographs by Samuel Hartnett. Courtesy of the artist and Michael Lett, Tāmaki Makaurau.