This hardback catalogue marks a new commission by Nancy Spero – Let the Priests Tremble, a work printed directly onto the walls of Ikon’s splendid new gallery. American Spero is now widely recognised as one of the most important women artists of the 20th century.

Drawing inspiration from classical and modern sources, Spero collages and prints images of women, from Greek goddesses to screen icons, onto the walls or on long papyrus-like friezes that scroll around the gallery. After four decades of art making, she continues to create work of extraordinary power.

In Let the Priests Tremble her cast of characters leap, dance and fly up to the roof and back down the walls. Her work celebrates women without denying their struggle. Installation photographs of both the new commission and her earlier The Black and the Red III are featured, together with a major new essay by Catherine de Zegher entitled ‘Tongue, Torture and Free Rein in Spero’s explicit Series of Paintings’.