Hannah Perry's Autumn exhibition at Somerset House explores mental and emotional health

Date
31 July 2018
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Hannah Perry: Rage Fluids (Künstlerhaus, Halle für Kunst & Medien, Graz, 2018)
© Markus Krottendorfe

This autumn, Hannah Perry explores mental and emotional health in her first major UK solo exhibition since 2015. Gush, which is to take place at Somerset House, will feature a new body of work that examines our contemporary, hyper-networked society. Large-scale dynamic sculptures, an immersive film and wall-based works will be showcased throughout the space.

A graduate of the Royal Academy of Arts and a Somerset House Studio resident, Hannah Perry uses a network of personal references to generate her artwork. This exhibition is an “intensely personal yet universal exploration of the experience of loss"; the work has been created in response to the tragic suicide of her friend and collaborator, Pete Morrow and it marks the first time the artist has chosen to address this devastating subject.

Morrow’s diaristic writing and verse provide the basis for her creative exploration, examining romance, psychosis and our relationship to death. With rising figures in the UK showing more and more people experiencing mental illness, with men often suffering in silence, it is necessary that these thoughts should be shared and understood.

Central to the exhibition is a film that will surround the viewer on every side; it will create the effect of continuously shifting and moving bodies. The film is “narrated with fragmented spoken word that ebbs and flows”, emphasising the effect trauma can have on your physical and mental state. The piece will be accompanied by an original instrumental score written in collaboration with an ensemble of contemporary musicians.

Elsewhere in the exhibition, Perry’s signature sculptures featuring strange stretched out car body wrap will be displayed. Subwoofer speakers cause sound frequencies to distort the metal, creating rippling patterns that resemble water and the constant shifting of reflections.

The exhibition will take place in the River Rooms from 3 October — 4 November, with a special performance by the artist happening on the 5 October.

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Hannah Perry: Liquid Language
© Hannah Perry and Somerset House

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Hannah Perry: Mechanism
© Hannah Perry and Somerset House

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