Remembering Sophie Calle’s pioneering break-up exhibition ‘Take Care of Yourself’
Every so often, a piece of art emerges that is so profound that it helps to change the direction of art and the lives associated with it. From Jacob Lawrence’s The Migration Series to the recent Unboxed-Jon Hopkins collaboration Dreamachine, there are many examples wherein artistic talent is augmented by genuine innovation and a desire to make the world less complex.
One of the most impressive and striking pieces in this set arrived in 2007, courtesy of French artist Sophie Calle. Once labelled as “the Marcel Duchamp of emotional dirty laundry” by Angelique Chrisafis in The Guardian, her works challenge the norms – whether societal or intellectual – and are as vital as any other artistic venture. Also likened to a Paul Auster of the visual arts, this comparison to the author says a lot about the nature of her efforts. The boundaries are to be pushed to their absolute limits.
Whilst there are many important moments hidden within her oeuvre, such as the film No Sex Last Night, the title of her most impactful piece has to go to Prenez soin de vous AKA Take Care of Yourself.
A display of heartbreak, confusion, and the fact that the male of the species has an innate penchant for acting despicable, the piece’s central theme is utterly fearless and is the finest example of her works being reactions to the various crises she has faced. The basis was an email Calle recieved from her partner who was ending their affair, wherein he broke up with her skillfully and politely, ending with the line “take care of yourself”.
In response, she gave the email to 107 females of different professions and used them as a means of processing what had happened. They were to elaborate on the meaning of the letter, to analyse, dissect and decode it, each according to their job, and write a letter back to Calle with their final reading.
The original text of the work reads: “I received an email telling me it was over. I didn’t know how to respond. It was almost as if it hadn’t been meant for me. It ended with the words, ‘take care of yourself’. I followed this advice to the letter I asked 107 women (as well as two handpuppets and a parrot), chosen for their profession or skills, to interpret the letter. To analyse it, comment on it, dance it, sing it. Dissect it. Exhaust it. Understand it for me. Answer for me. It was a way of taking the time to break up. A way to take care of myself.”
Symbolising the visual literature that Calle creates, each work that made up Prenez soin de vous had at least two elements, a photographic portrait of the interpreter and one revealing their rendering of the letter in another form, which could be a photograph, text, drawing or video.
An immersive experience held in a vast study room, it was first exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2007 and instantly became one of the ultimate works dealing with a breakup. There were readings from a psychoanalyst, chess player, clown and even her own mother, with each adding something vital to how Calle and the audience processed the breakup.
Demonstrating this variance in how the accounts panned out is that a writer commented on the style of the letter, a justice issued an objective judgement, a lawyer acted in defence of the ex-lover, a mediator attempted to build a path to reconciliations, and a proofreader provided a literal edit of the text, with it investigated in every way possible.
Calle wasn’t done there, either. Helping to really get to grips with the break-up and just how cold her lover had been, she tasked a selection of performers, such as Nathalie Dessay and Laurie Anderson, with bringing the letter to life. She then filmed the singers and actresses, adding a three-dimensional aspect to what was, at face value, just another callous break-up message from another piece of shit.
Interestingly, with most of the readers of the letter sympathising with Calle’s heartbreak, one thing is clear; there is a universal understanding between all of the women through finding accord in suffering, a genuinely astounding achievement. It also extrapolated that there are myriad ways to process a break-up and, consequently, take care of oneself.
