{"product_id":"suzy-lake-my-friend-told-me-i-had-carried-too-many-stones-2-1994","title":"SUZY LAKE \"MY FRIEND TOLD ME I HAD CARRIED TOO MANY STONES #2\" 1994","description":"\u003cdiv id=\"id6\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSuzy Lake (b. 1947) is a pioneering Canadian conceptual artist whose photography and performance have explored identity, gender, the body, and social power.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLake's early work often placed her own body at the centre of investigations into representation and authority. \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eBy using post-production strategies as well as costumes, make-up or props, she morphs into characters like Miss Chatelaine, a Spice Girl or Dirk Bogarde to explore ideas including beauty, femininity, identity and aging.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDuring the 1980s, Lake shifted toward more direct forms of political activism, temporarily removing herself as the subject of her work. In 1994, she returned to self-representation with \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMy Friend Told Me I Carried Too Many Stones\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRe-Reading Recovery\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, turning toward the experiences of ageing, maturity, and the changing body.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn \"\u003c\/span\u003eMy Friend Told Me I Carried Too Many Stones #2\u003cspan\u003e,\" Lake wears a thin cotton slip, her body partially concealed within an image of a crumbling wall. The garment suggests both vulnerability and protection, while the damaged surface stands as a metaphor for accumulated experience and transformation. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLake’s figure appears to scratch or peel at the wall, creating a tension between the body and its surroundings. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe photograph itself is layered with a smaller image of the same wall, producing a strange and literal sense of recession and enclosure. This interplay of peeling and layering is central to the work, suggesting both the residue of the past and the possibility of moving beyond it. As Lake described the work, her practice at this point moved toward a quieter form of empowerment, with “the beginning of the voice over resistance.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis work belongs to a series of the same name\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. The group of images marked a significant shift in her practice, as she began using the ageing female body not as a symbol of decline but as a site of experience, maturity, and agency.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSuzy Lake has exhibited her work nationally and internationally, most recently in the significant exhibition \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.moma.org\/calendar\/exhibitions\/4912\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, in New York. In 2014, she was the focus of a career spanning retrospective at the Art Gallery of Ontario, with a substantial book titled \u003cem\u003eIntroducing Suzy Lake\u003c\/em\u003e.  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLake’s work is held in major Canadian collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Canada Council Art Bank, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eQuestions about this piece? \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"mailto:troy@caviar20.com\"\u003eContact us\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan\u003e or call +1.416.704.1720\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"My Friend Told Me I Had Carried Too Many Stones #2\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCanada, 1994\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChromogenic print construction\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eSigned in pencil, lower right corner\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e19.25\"H  15.25\"W (work)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e20.5\"H 16.5\"W (framed)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVery good condition\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProvenance: Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa; private collection, Toronto\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLiterature: \u003cem\u003eSuzy Lake: Life \u0026amp; Work \u003c\/em\u003eby Erin Silver, Art CAnada Institute (visit the e-book \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/artbooks.artcanada.com\/suzy-lake\/key-works\/re-reading-recovery\"\u003ehere\u003c\/a\u003e)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNote: the price is $4000 CAD\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Suzy Lake","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67609499074796,"sku":"09-26","price":4000.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0074\/2712\/files\/Caviar20_Suzy-Lake-My-Friend-Told-Me-I-Carried-Too-Many-Stones-1994_01.jpg?v=1790890968","url":"https:\/\/www.caviar20.com\/products\/suzy-lake-my-friend-told-me-i-had-carried-too-many-stones-2-1994","provider":"Caviar20","version":"1.0","type":"link"}