The Gallery is the UK’s largest public exhibition. Thought-provoking artworks take over thousands of billboards and digital screens across over 30 towns and cities in the UK. Prominent contemporary names have been commissioned, such as 2024 Jarman-nominee Sin Wai Kin, filmmaker Joanna Hogg and the 2023 Aesthetica Art Prize-winner Larry Achiampong. It’s a far-reaching event that brings people together to explore the key debates affecting our times. Past editions have posed the question No But Where Are You Really From? (2023), reflected on The State We’re In (2023) and interrogated the Straight White Male (2022).
Now, The Gallery unveils its fourth project with the theme: A Real Woman. Curator Bakul Patki explains: “I felt it crucial that this was not seen as a question to be answered, but rather a statement to be considered. There is no single or simple definition of a woman. I hope the different perspectives presented by our artists will inspire viewers to consider the plurality of the female experience and thereby encourage understanding and empathy towards those whose lives are shaped differently from their own.” The 11 creatives commissioned share a variety of perspectives, exploring everything from feminism and gender identity to health disparities and home life. Here, we spotlight some of the pieces coming to you soon.
One captivating project comes from the minds of British director and screenwriter Joanna Hogg (b. 1960) – known for The Eternal Daughter and The Souvenir duology – and sculptor, filmmaker and designer Nick Turvey MRSS (b. 1960). The couple debut their first creative collaboration in the film installation Push Me Pull You. In 2015, the pair were invited to participate in Doug Aitken’s Station to Station, a 30 day “living exhibition” that took over the Barbican Arts Centre. This project forced Hogg and Turvey to consider how they could work together despite their different practices and personalities. These conversations formed the basis of Push Me Pull Me. A composite image shows half of their faces collaged next to each other to form one whole. It visualises their method of switching roles in the dialogue in order to wholeheartedly listen and empathise with the words of the other person. The resulting film installation is a testament to Hogg and Turvey’s commitment to recognising the value in each other’s unique perspectives.
Elsewhere, visual artist Sin Wai Kin (b. 1991) looks inwards to examine the way in which we strive to understand ourselves. Essence (2024) is a self-portrait series in which the artist embodies a recurring character in their practice, Wai King. This figure of “unbridled masculinity” is the brand ambassador for an imagined cologne that tantalises viewers with the promise of revealing their inner core. One shot shows Wai King from below, gazing wistfully beyond the frame, with the words: “Your True Self Awaits.” The photographs connect to the image-maker’s exhibition with Soft Opening, where the campaign is further fleshed out through a three-channel film, wall-based works and sculptural piece. It’s a project that subverts the advertisements we see every day of products that claim they will fulfil our deepest desires.
This is an exhibition that brings compelling projects straight to the audience, as opposed to the other way around. It’s an opportunity for everyone to participate in the key conversations that would usually be contained within the traditional white walls. Creative practitioners approach the topic of A Real Woman from a variety of perspectives, from interpersonal dynamics to the impact of advertising. The Gallery is space for people – regardless of their background or experiences – to interact with images that get to the heart of pressing topics, from those that touch our daily lives to those that feel far away.
The Gallery, A Real Woman | Until 12 August
Words: Diana Bestwish Tetteh
Image Credits:
- Aljohara Jeje, /pəˈfɔːm(ə)ns/ (Performance) (2022)
- Fanny Beckman, Trojan (2022)
- Sin Wai Kin, Essence (2024)
