BODIED

About

Filet Gallery

BOD!ED

3.10.2024 - 4.10.2024

Where Art Gets Personal—A Collaborative Exploration of Bodies and Identities.

The University of East London and Filet Gallery are pleased to invite you to the opening of BOD!ED on December 3rd, 2024, with an exclusive private viewing, followed by a public opening on December 4th. Located in Shoreditch, Filet Gallery will host this vibrant showcase over two days. 

This exhibition showcases six fine art students from the University of East London: Maklyn Renee Kennard, Paris Hanley-Bolt, Parker Kenner-Kujath, Mars Harvey, Alison Kivuvu-Nsona, and Ana De Sousa Duarte. 

BOD!ED challenges the notion that there’s a single, definitive way to portray the human body. Through their work, these artists invite viewers to engage with deeply personal stories that explore how bodies claim space and meaning in the world. Each piece is marked by vibrant colours, bold forms, and varied materials, celebrating individuality while resonating with shared experiences of identity and belonging. BOD!ED isn’t just an exhibition; it’s a statement: every body has a place, and every identity deserves recognition.

BOD!ED moves beyond conventional portrayals of the body, offering a fresh take on identity and embodiment. The exhibition presents a collaborative journey through resilience, connection, and self-expression. Each piece opens a window into the lived experience, illustrating the beauty and strength found in diversity.

@junkyardwoolie

Maklyn Renee Kennard’s Inequitable Hotties (2024) and Isn't It Amazing How People Can Feel Like Home (2024) captures the essence of friendship and shared identity within a community. Using oil and acrylic paints combined with embossed fabrics, her pieces create a vibrant, three-dimensional effect that pulls viewers into these intimate social spaces. The concept of the mutual gaze is central to her work, showing how individuals recognize and affirm each other’s identities in shared environments.

Kennard’s work embodies the theme of bodies and identities, illustrating how friendships shape and occupy space—both physically and emotionally. By focusing on these spaces, she challenges viewers to consider how our relationships anchor us in the world and contribute to a collective identity.

@parishanleyart

Paris Hanley-Bolt’s Live Laugh Love (2024) is an immersive installation that invites viewers to experience a domestic scene filled with vintage picture frames, mirrors, a custom-text rug, and fabric banners. The work reflects on memory and identity, blending warmth with the fading effects of time. Viewers are encouraged to engage with the space, using mirrors and seating to reflect on how bodies relate to the themes of memory, family, and belonging.

Inspired by artists like Luc Tuymans and Tracey Emin, Hanley-Bolt uses personal and symbolic objects to explore how memories transform over time, mirroring the lasting impact of relationships and experiences. This piece encapsulates the idea of bodies “fitting” into spaces that hold both comfort and tension.

@pawkerito

Parker Kenner-Kujath’s Look Inside (2024) is an A2 screen print of a microscopic image of an eye cell encumbered by 3D printed red blood cells. The curtain of cells surrounding the print consisting of 3D printed blood cells act as a barrier for the viewer that they must go inside of, playing on the idea of inner vs outer traits. These cells that depict an organic matter are made of an inorganic material - PLA plastic. The abutment of these materials beg the question: what are we made of? Her practice explores the connection we have with the innate biological components that comprise each of us.

@marzipainh

Mars Harvey's Starred (2024) explores body image, gender identity, and the experiences of living with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) through a lens of vulnerability. Harvey's fleshy, imperfect painting style conveys the personal and physical complexities of inhabiting a non-binary body affected by PCOS. Through this work, Harvey invites viewers to consider both the physical and psychological aspects of identity. By focusing on bigger body shapes and unique personal experiences, Starred challenges conventional notions of beauty, offering a powerful statement about self-acceptance and resilience.

@al__kay

Alison Kivuvu-Nsona Le Bantu (2024)  explores the theme of overcoming adversity and enduring through injustice and hardship. Kivuvu-Nsona art serves as both a tribute to the Bantu people and a reflection of their rich culture and traditions, while also highlighting the history of the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Her piece delves into the nation’s socio-political struggles, both past and present, illustrating how, through generations of resilience, individuals can take pride in their heritage and rise above their circumstances.

@myart_ana

Ana Isabel The Only Way Up Is Down (2024) explores the complex relationship between nature and nurture, focusing on the body’s instinctual reactions to change. The Only Way Up Is Down examines how our bodies communicate distress when we’re in spaces that no longer serve us. Isabel believes in the transformative power of acknowledging this instinct—how the body’s response signals a need for change. Her work suggests that through periods of breakdown, we find the seeds for renewal, illustrating that sometimes things need to crash for a better life to emerge. Her piece is a tribute to the human body’s wisdom and its capacity to guide us toward growth and healing.

Join us at Filet Gallery on the 3rd of December for the private viewing of BOD!ED, an exhibition where you find expression, claim your space, resonates with diverse narratives. Step into these personal stories that illuminate and celebrate our shared human experience.