Georgia Clemson - The vessel that contains me

About

Every human body has physical and emotional limits, and like the border of a geographical territory, these boundaries can be hard, blurred or fragmented. There are many things that we cannot control about our health and the world around us, but we can feel empowered to make decisions about how we treat ourselves, and how we interact with our environment. In ‘The Vessel That Contains Me’, Georgia Clemson presents a series of photograms that celebrate the body as both a sacred site and a vessel that will carry you throughout your life.

The abstract shapes that make up these prints were created by drawing around a person’s body as they moved around a piece of paper, capturing the space between the edges where a hand meets a waist, knee, neck or elbow. Through this process, a picture of the person is made that exposes the beauty of the human form outside of the normal conventions that we judge it on. Three other works explore the footprint of the Kentish Town Health Centre itself, a place designed specifically to facilitate care and wellbeing. The technique used to create the final print takes place in the photographic darkroom, combining shape and light into a meditative, colourful experience for the viewer.

These prints are accompanied by a video called ‘Explorer’s Log’. This film is narrated by an unnamed explorer who we join as they navigate a recently discovered island called ‘Another’. Through the explorer’s voice we encounter this curious place and join them as they attempt to get along with the climate, terrain and flora. Their struggle for survival soon becomes a battle of wills that pushes the explorer to the limit. The film can be experienced with or without sound, or with headphones and eyes closed as a guided visualisation.

Georgia Clemson is a London-based artist and educator who was born in Birmingham. Her interdisciplinary practice comprises photography, sculpture, sound, video, writing and collage. Clemson’s practice is driven by experimental darkroom processes that she uses to address issues surrounding the physicality of photography, boundaries, memory and care. She completed her BA in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins College and graduated with an MA in Photography from the Royal College of Art in 2019. She was selected by Source Photographic Review as a top graduate of 2019 and featured in a special issue. Her work has also been seen in Vogue Italia and Harper’s Bazaar. Recently Clemson was shortlisted for the Brixton Art Prize and has exhibited at ArtLacuna and Peckham24. Clemson works in the Fine Art and Photography faculties at Middlesex University and is the Photography tutor for Oxbridge Academic Programs.