Kiki Smith was inspired to create her large-scale tapestries following a visit to the Apocalypse Tapestry in Angers, France in 1976. The tapestry, spread over a number of sections that originally totalled 90 scenes, depicts the story of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation by Saint John the Divine. It was produced between 1377 and 1382.
Oxford University’s Professor of Medieval German, Henrike Lähnemann introduces us to some of the symbolic links between Kiki’s works and the medieval German tapestries she researches.