Clench (solo exhibition, Lady Beck, Leeds, UK 2018)
Performance "Hydra"
Are we moving, or are we being moved?
Are we holding or are we being held?
Through sculpture, photography and performance, the exhibition investigate ways in which limitations on bodies produce habitual and automatic gestures. How do systems, structures and other bodies influence the way we move within space? How are cultural, institutional and social problems expressed in physical form? Live performance occurred as a collaboration between Emma Bäcklund and Hamish Macpherson. The performance "Hydra" explored subtle investigative movements wearing a twin sweater made by Emma's mom Tatiana Bjarne. The two headed creature in various mythologies represent a duality of body and spirit but also unity between diverse people. When the sweater was not activated by the performance it was hung on tongue hooks made in clay.
Accompanying text with the same title was written by Rory Cook