Identikit II

About

A play on the dual concepts of ‘identity’ and ‘kit’ (tool), the portmanteau ‘Identikit’ refers to a process of reconstructing the facial features of an unknown individual according to witness accounts. In a similar vein, the artist has engaged with the exhibition site as an environment rich with embedded narratives and bearing its own unique traces of memory.

The site used by Sonzogni was formerly the Lilian Baylis School, built in 1964 by the Architects’ Co-Partnership (ACP) for the London County Council in the Borough of Lambeth. It served its function as a school up until 2005 and after that it has been used for community programmes. In 2011 the site, by now Grade II listed, was acquired by Henley Homes Plc, who restored and converted the buildings into new homes in close liaison with English Heritage and planning and conservation teams.

The artist photographed the building before re-development works commenced and whilst it was still in a state of disrepair, when traces of its 40-year former life as a school were still clearly visible. Her installation presents a cycle of 12 large-scale photographs, displayed inside the space of the assembly hall, fixed on mobile structures that, through curtains and original features, enter into a spatial dialogue with the unique architecture of the former hall.

Identikit II is an installation about photography and architecture where the audience play an important role as spectator, actor and witness.