Fight or Flight

The first major monograph on Jill Mulleady, whose paintings feature humans and animals enacting their instinctive psychological reactions to ever-present threats of danger

In the paintings and woodcuts of Swiss artist Jill Mulleady (born 1980), characters enact the physiological stress reactions of “fight or flight”: either adopting extreme or violent survival methods, or retreating into isolation. Mulleady's work roots out fantasies, motivations and fears in order to depict a landscape of polarization and crisis. Ancient mythologies and recent histories are reanimated in her feverish work with an enduring, twisted force. And yet, opposed and extreme, the figures and scenes featured also point to futures in which beings are pushed into marginal spaces, suggesting an ominous threat at civilization’s center. Fight or Flight is the first major monograph on Jill Mulleady, surveying her artistic output over the last 10 years. It features newly commissioned essays by curator Laura McLean-Ferris, author Ottessa Moshfegh and anthropologist Michael Taussig, and a conversation between Mosfegh and Mulleady.