Exhibition
Body Songs
27 Feb 2024 – 2 Mar 2024
Regular hours
- Tue, 27 Feb
- 12:00 – 18:00
- Wed, 28 Feb
- 12:00 – 21:00
- Thu, 29 Feb
- 12:00 – 18:00
- Fri, 01 Mar
- 12:00 – 18:00
- Sat, 02 Mar
- 12:00 – 18:00
Free admission
Address
- 139 Whitfield street
- London
London - W1T 5EN
- United Kingdom
Travel Information
- Warren Street
'Body Songs' is a group exhibition taking place at Fitzrovia Gallery consisting of paintings by 5 Royal College of Art artists working with the body and how the reciprocity with it moulds our identity.
About
Our bodies are vessels through which we navigate the world. They are instruments for self expression. There is a reciprocity that exists as our bodies define us and we define our bodies; how we walk them and how they walk us through the world. Each individual's version of this journey with their body is complex and multi-faceted. The experience is usually a challenge, but can be beautiful too. All bodies are vulnerable to the projections of outside sources of which we must reclaim control. ‘Body Songs’ is a selection of paintings by 5 Royal College of Art artists working with the body and how this reciprocity with it moulds our identity.
Our bodies’ relationships with what is outside of them is another defining element in our lives, be it other people or items from the everyday, such as food or clothes. From beauty to the grotesque and intimacy to exaggerated sexuality, the themes explored through these relationships with the world around us are varied and colourful. Such themes and bodies are painted in varying ways from true to life to the uncanny. Similar messages and intentions tie these artists together, but each one has something different and vital to contribute to the conversation. A lot of these artists physically depict their own body, and although all are self-referential, this is not a collection of self portraits per se.
All of these artists are non-male identifying. John Berger famously said: ‘men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.’ Throughout art history, both viewer and artist have been assumed male. Although these artists do not all identify as women, they do not identify as men, and they are taking ownership of the gaze. Some of these works act as a reclamation of how bodies like ours have been represented throughout history.
©Hattie Malcomson 2024