Stevenson’s response: “Through this exploration of Jane’s art making, I will observe how the language of psychoanalysis is not simply a form of interpretation but that art making, what’s going on inside, is a form of psychoanalysis: I will match my works with one of Jane’s as if in-conversation.”

Dreaming remains a central theme of the project; Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams became the bible of Surrealist art and the title for this project was subconsciously formed from the seminal chapter six ‘The Dream - Work’. What was so revolutionary about Freud’s approach to dreams was his methodology in line with the Freudian understanding of human nature.  Explaining his ‘method’ he wrote:

“We develop the solution of the dream from this latent content, and not from the manifest dream-content. We are thus confronted with a new problem, an entirely novel task - that of examining and tracing the relations between the latent dream-thoughts and the manifest dream content, and the processes by which the latter has grown out of the former.”

Stevenson has taken on the act of tracing as both a psychoanalytical method and an artistic one. Curatorially the exhibitions see Stevenson work closely with Powell to examine the collections, creating associations between the artefacts and art works in order to reveal new stories about the makers and the relevance of psychoanalysis.

The central theme, bound up in the title, is the notion of legacy as a ghost, a form of grief, a memory and Stevenson questions how artefacts become significant beyond their individual intrinsic beauty or craftsmanship; they hold the remains of the past actions of their makers and owners.

The project has allowed time away from Stevenson’s usual practice, with time spent in Příbor, Czechia, and in McAdam Freud’s London studio, resulting in experimentation and permission to fully embrace psychoanalytical mechanisms through her work. The results present an other-worldly collection of talismanic works; wide-eyed ceramic heads presented as knitting machines with red thread emerging from them; death masks that question the notion of time, shoes which conjure up the notion of ‘walking in someone’s else’s’; and cloud-like outlines of a human form. The project and collection of works speak of legacy, with references to the Freudian mixture of Catholicism and Judaism, they are votive offerings relating to death and ritual, and a fitting first-step in the evaluation of McAdam Freud’s life’s output.

The town of Příbor, Czechia will provide the setting to the first iteration of the project on November 8th 2024 and Jane’s return to this space of her ancestors is explored by Stevenson. Sigmund Freud’s theories widely discuss the significance of infancy on the development of the mind, and this town, occupied by Freud during his early childhood remained close to his heart. He looked back on Příbor as an idyllic, pastoral setting and his birth house, now a museum, remains a poignant, spiritual home to psychoanalysis. Jane’s great-great-grandfather Jacob relocated the family to Vienna after his wool business failed, Stevenson has incorporated knitted wool cables into her ceramics using local traditional hand knitting techniques. These techniques are celebrated in the local museum The Centre For Traditional Technologies. 

The performance, Your Heart Is In my Hands will see the Přibor community come together for a candlelit procession on November 8th. Twelve ceramic heart-shaped candle holders made by Stevenson in McAdam Freud’s London studio will be carried from The Birth Place Museum to the exhibition at Jane’s eponymous gallery on the town square, accompanied by a Czech choir. 

The third exhibition in London’s The Freud Museum in May 2025 will involve Stevenson’s long-term project which considers everyday objects used by Sigmund Freud as being uncanny. Since 2017 Stevenson has explored a Jadite dish (museum #3111) on Freud’s desk, purportedly his favourite ashtray: Taking the ovular dish and the symbolic cylindrical cigar as a metaphor for gender she creates a shapely alphabet produce bodily scenarios in clay. Works from this project are now held in celebrated collections and have been exhibited widely.

Holly Stevenson is the first artist-in-residence to launch the Freud Artist Residency (F.A.R.) and the project entitled Tracing the Irretraceable has been awarded an Unlocking Collections Grant from Arts Council England.   

Jane McAdam Freud was the celebrated multi-disciplinary artist and thinker, the daughter of Lucian Freud, and Great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud. Her contribution to contemporary art, sculpture and conceptual thinking has been recognised internationally and her work included in notable private and public collections.  

Tracing The Irretraceable / Sledování Nevystopovatelného, in Czech, is a research project, artist residency and exhibition series presenting Stevenson’s exploration of McAdam Freud’s work. The results will be exhibited across three spaces, namely the Jane McAdam Freud Museum and Gallery, The Sigmund Freud Birthplace Museum, both in Příbor, Czech Republic along with The Freud Museum, London. The title of the exhibitions remains the same across the three museums but their contents and format are necessarily diverse in response to the individual collections.

The project examines the significance of psychoanalytic culture for contemporary art through Holly Stevenson’s and Jane McAdam Freud’s practices and in relation to the artists’ analysis of Sigmund Freud’s theories and collection. When the Jane McAdam Freud estate Curator, Georgia Powell approached Holly Stevenson for this unique experience, the artist was faced with the question “what might it mean to me to be an artist in residence in the world of Jane McAdam Freud?”