Widely popular at the 2007 Venice Biennale, Sophie Calle’s Take Care of Yourself––on view in the United States for the first time––recontextualizes an agonizingly ambiguous letter the artist received from a lover concluding their relationship. Although the misery ensuing from breakups has been explored in cultural venues low and high, Take Care of Yourself combines this common theme with pointed and intelligent thematic allusions to issues ranging from gender to seriality. Concluding a winding explanation of the relationship’s dissolution, Calle’s former lover, whom she renames X, implores her to “take care of yourself.” To better understand these words, the artist distributed the letter to 107 women differing extensively in age and profession, asking each to offer some interpretation or advice.
Semantically deconstructing a statement that most would gloss over with emotion, Take Care of Yourself draws heavily on Calle’s noted documentary and conceptual practice. The walls in the main gallery are covered, from floor to ceiling, with each woman’s name, profession, and photograph while reading the letter, as well as the work produced. Each result highlights a different facet of the text, inviting reconsideration of both words and the experiences they signify. In one example, a translator considers X’s odd choice of the formal French vous (you) over the more familiarized tu, suggesting the underlying meaning of a seemingly minor decision. In another especially poignant piece, Calle sits in a chair next to the letter and addresses a family mediator’s inquiries. The mediator’s thorough questioning forces the artist to assume both passive and active roles, ultimately resulting in a cathartic meditation on the boundaries of personal experience. — Britany Salsbury
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