This Autumn, Somerset House will present a major UK solo exhibition from British artist and Somerset House Studios resident Hannah Perry. In a candid and personal exploration of mental and emotional health in our hyper-networked society, the show will feature a new body of captivating work, including large-scale dynamic sculpture, sound and immersive film.
Central to the exhibition is an immersive film, created using a custom rigged 360-degree camera built by Perry, that surrounds viewers with the contorted, continuously shifting movement of bodies. The film is narrated with fragmented spoken word that ebbs and flows with the images, surrounding the highs and lows of both the everyday and life-changing events, including the impact trauma and grief can have on our physical and mental state.
In an intensely personal yet universal exploration of the experience of loss, the installation marks the first time Perry has chosen to address the tragedy of the recent suicide of her best friend and artistic collaborator, Pete Morrow. Morrow's diaristic writing and verse provide the words of young people from London South East College, Plumstead, who Perry met through a series of workshops at Somerset House.
A compelling, original instrumental score written in collaboration with a cross-disciplinary ensemble of contemporary musicians, including award-winning composers Mica Levi, Coby Sey and London Contemporary Orchestra, accompanies the words and visual images, mirroring their rhythms and repetitions.
Hannah Perry: Gush launches on 3 October at Somerset House's River Rooms and runs until 4 November 2018. Admission is free. Find out more: somersethouse.org.uk.
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