WHO HOLDS THE SWORD

50 Celebration Avenue, Stratford, London E20
PV Thursday 26th January, 6pm-9pm
27th January – 10th March 2023
Open Thurs-Sun 12-5pm

Immerse yourself in the swamp-like world of ‘Who holds the sword?’ an exhibition of work with the image of the sword at its centre. Encompassing sculpture, painting, installation and performance this playful show skews traditional gender norms via a contemporary medieval focus. The work fills the space to create an atmospheric environment that plays with perception and creates surprise. A PVC pig’s head eyeballs a flaccid knight, chain mail underpants glint in the light cast from a triple pronged painted blade. Adorning the walls is an armoury of swords forged from a range of materials: some tufted, some knitted, some painted and some you only hold in your head. At times the exhibition becomes setting for sword making workshops and medieval karaoke.Sited in a former Sainsbury’s supermarket this exhibition is supported by HYPHA STUDIOS and made possible by Get Living.

Haydn Albrow @haydndoesart
Isobel Atacus @isobelatacus
Corsin Billeter @cbilleter
Flora Bradwell @florabradwellart
Anna Choutova @annachoutova1
Laura Copsey @laurachops
Sophie Goodchild @sophiegoodchild
Denise Hickey @up._.at._.dawn
Hee Jyung Kim @heejyungkim
Sophie Lourdes Knight @sophielourdesknight
Andras Nagy-Sandor @andrasnagysandor
Alice Macdonald @alice__mac
Lindsey Jean McLean @lindseyjeanmclean
Taryn O’Reilly @artandwhiskey
Clementine Parrot #Clementine Parrot
Leon Pozniakow @leonpozniakow
Jack Sutherland @jqsutherland
Demelza Watts @demelza.watts
Katherine Vesey #Katherine Vesey

Contact: Lindsey Jean Mclean
[email protected]
07903650698

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Lindsey, Flora and Isobel are three visual artists who met through an artist-run space, and at the Slade. Their work encompasses painting, sculpture, writing and installation, yet shares a focus on critical and celebratory approaches to world-building through material thinking. They are female-identifying and living locally to Stratford.

They’ve worked individually and collectively across numerous curatorial projects, including the icing room, Gaff, Narrow Gallery and Bad Art. Often there’s been a strong DIY element to their work, always run on a shoestring. More recently they have exhibited in and co-curated Snakes on a Picture Plane at the UK Mexican Arts Society, London. Individual awards include Elizabeth Greenshields (Lindsey), Gilbert Bayes (Flora) and BAG Trust Artworks Open (Isobel).

Artist Celia Hempton and Get Living

Celia Hempton (born 1981, Stroud, UK) is currently included in British Art Show 9, (touring), and My Life in the Metaverse, curated by Dr. Omar Kholeif, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi.  A monograph has been published this year by Phillida Reid with accompanying text by Amia Srinivasan.  Her work has been included in many institutional shows, including ICA Boston, Whitechapel Gallery and Serpentine London, as well as Performance Space New York, Gwangju Biennale, Art Night with ICA London, amongst others. It is held in the collections of the Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellin, Colombia, The British Council and the Government Art Collection, UK. 

@hempton’s work explores concepts of voyeurism in the post-digital age. In her paintings, performances and installations, she investigates the blurred lines of comfort and consent; desire and subjugation, visibility and opacity; seeking to deconstruct the ways in which we engage with each other in a rapidly evolving age of hyper-mediation. Formally, Hempton’s paintings, which range in scale from intimate to life-size, acknowledge the tropes of history painting and the often subjugated female body. Hempton’s richly layered paintings directly play with and confront this historical dynamism, producing tactile celebrations of the body, alongside multiple perspectives on how the bodily gaze is constructed. 

In partnership with @wearegetliving

Photo Holly Whittaker.