Yvonne and Magdeleine Torn in Tatters
By Alex Gallagher
A sororal split cut up and remixed
like a mirror askew down the middle and strewn
across canvas face in red and grey
we ricochet carelessly into each other
lissom fragments collapse imperfect moulds
what twists of genetics might then be enshrined
which gruesome aesthetics now left entwined
weaved together and exposed —
what is left of us but what we share of each other?
In response to Marcel Duchamp's ‘Yvonne and Magdeleine Torn in Tatters’ 1911.
See the artwork that inspired this poem in the flesh, along with more than 100 of Marcel Duchamp’s world-renowned pieces in ‘The Essential Duchamp’ exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 27 April – 11 August 2019.