A prolific artist who lived between New York and London, Ellen Cantor (1961-2013) combined ready-made materials with diaristic notes and
drawings to probe her perceptions and experiences of personal desire and institutional violence. In her drawings,
paintings,
collages, and
videos, Cantor lifted characters and sequences from iconic
films, reorienting the ideological transmissions of the source material. Fictional figures from Disney cartoons, cult horror films, New Wave cinema, and family movies provide a visual foil to Cantor's intimate disclosures. Magnetized by the doeful naivety of characters such as Snow White and Bambi, Cantor would, in her drawings, extend their narrative horizons to include vivid
sexual encounters and crisis-ridden relationships.
