This Myth We Make - Anouska Samms

About

This Myth We Make is an exhibition by artist Anouska Samms. Presented as one body of work - film, sculpture and weaving create an assemblage to express the familial ways ‘myths’ we consciously or unconsciously adopt to communicate our love for others.

Using materials such as clay and hair, a matrilineal ritual across five generations of women in Samms’ family, including the artist herself, is examined; all of the humour and messiness that exists within intergenerational and maternal connection is revealed. This show asks the viewer to contemplate the things we make literal and physical as a way to stay attached to family, heritage and unknown identities of self.

The relationship between hair and clay is explored in Samms’ dysfunctional containers, where pots morph into unstable vessels through its combination. Both are organic materials, endlessly malleable with a history of tradition, function and meaning. Clay, transformative matter that inherits the quality of the ground it is removed from, can create vessels from the ceremonial to the mundane, while from hair, the mitochondrial DNA within the shaft is passed from a pregnant parent to their children. The confluence of the two materials invites the viewer to contemplate the deep rooted generational expressions that inform the work.

The film, It’s Not Perverse, It’s Mothers, comically yet tenderly questions this curious ritual, whereby mothers and daughters in Samms’ family have passed down a seemingly unquestioned (until now) ‘ritual’ where five generations of women have dyed their hair red. Serendipitously, Samms is naturally strawberry blonde, and continues the tradition without needing to, choosing to preserve the myth. Acting as a chaotic portrait, the film reveals the difficulties in attempting to recapture a familial story that can be too revealing or difficult to accept.

Made between 2019 and 2022, a large hanging tapestry, Big Mother, was created using only human hair which was donated by London hairdressers and individuals around the world through the artist’s social media callouts. The hair was then bleached then dyed different shades of auburn. The intrinsic link between weaving and creation, particularly birth, is seen throughout the folklore and mythologies of multiple cultures.

Appearing both joyful and bizarre, the delicate and ornate details of the work are subverted by the presence of the abject in the use of disembodied human hair - another humourous nod at the purity and absurdity of mother and daughter exchange. 

Curated by Natalie Kane.

Anouska Samms lives and works in London, UK. Selected exhibitions include Gentle/Radical, Cardiff (2020); CREAM (Centre for Research and Education in the Arts and Media), University of Westminster, London (2017); Mana Contemporary, Chicago (2017); New Orleans Film Festival, New Orleans (2017); ANTI Contemporary Arts Festival, Kuopio (2017); Le Polygone Étoilé, Marseille (2017); Escales Documentaires, La Rochelle (2017); Index Art Center, New Jersey (2017); Arctic Moving Image & Film Festival, Harstad (2017); Aesthetica Short Film Festival, York (2017); PMMC Lab - Kino, Germany (2016).

Natalie Kane is a curator, writer and researcher who lives and works in London, UK. They are Curator of Digital Design at the V&A, where they curated the official UK Pavilions at the 2019 Milan Triennale and 2018 London Design Biennale with Maps of Defiance by Forensic Architecture. In 2019, Natalie curated 'War in Raqqa: Rhetoric versus Reality' with Amnesty International at the Architectural Association. With curatorial research unit Haunted Machines, which they co-founded with Tobias Revell in 2015, they curated the 2017 Impakt Festival, and exhibition Haunted Machines & Wicked Problems, featuring the work of Sophia Al-Maria, Monira Al Qadiri, Ingrid Burrington, Navine G. Khan Dossos, Tabita Rezaire, Angela Washko, James Bridle, Suzanne Treister, Addie Wagenknecht, Jenna Sutela & Tabita Rezaire, among others.