This is entry #76 in our ongoing 100 Philosophers, 100 Artworks, 100 Words Series.

Philosopher: Ruth Chang, Oxford University

Artwork: Unnamed artwork by Judit Reigl (2014)
India ink with sponge on rolled paper, executed in her workshop in Paris

Words: Reigl’s life was one riven with trauma, and she spent most of her life fighting against social and aesthetic constraints. Her work on paper at the end of her life—executed in seconds as she crouched over rolls of paper with a sponge and plastic tray of the blackest of inks in hand—strike me as the most direct, bold, wild, precise and honest representation of creativity and the human spirit I have ever seen. Inspiring for philosophers.