New Zealand/Balinese artist Sriwhana Spong's new exhibition in New Plymouth explores a unique language used by a medieval female German mystic and abbess, Hildegard von Bingen. She's added some new elements to the show a hook but no fish, during her time as the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery's 2018 artist in residence since it was first shown in London earlier this year.
The exhibition includes a film partially shot in the ruins of the monastery near Frankfurt where Hildegard von Bingen lived for almost 40 years. Sriwhana's based in London these days and her work's been shown in exhibitions in Berlin, Singapore, Melbourne, San Francisco and London, and here, in just the last two years. As well as the new film, she's using painting and sculpture to tell Hildegard's story and that of other medieval women mystics. Lynn Freeman asked Sriwhana Spong to tell us more about Hildegard and the secret language the Abbess says she received.
