a.samms@live.co.uk
Sum
10th August - 8th September
Sarabande Foundation, London
Patinated steel table, human hair, red textured earthenware, leather, silk, wool, cotton, resin
100cm x 165cm x 45.5cm
Photographed with Samms, 2023 Found metal chair, leather, human hair, silk, wool, cotton, resin, wood
82 cm x 39cm x 39cm
and
Vessel 6, 2020 Synthetic hair, cotton, glazed stoneware
10cm x 25cm
Photograph by Corey Bartle-Sanderson
Sarabande Foundation, London
Photograph by Corey Bartle-Sanderson
Sarabande Foundation, London
Photograph by Corey Bartle-Sanderson
Patinated steel table, human hair, red textured earthenware, leather, silk, wool, cotton, resin
100cm x 165cm x 45.5cm
and
Vessel 6, 2020
Synthetic hair, cotton, glazed stoneware
10cm x 25cm
Photograph by Corey Bartle-Sanderson
PRESS RELEASE
For 11 contemporary artists based at Sarabande’s studios in Haggerston 2022 - 2023, SUM was the culmination of their residency. Represented as an inviting house and lush garden, the exhibition was the quintessential allegory for their time spent together. Through collaboration and cohabitation, they nurtured and grew their practices as well as their relationships with each other. Over the course of four weeks, the artists welcomed the audience into their ‘home’ to see the exhibition and to experience takeovers, performances and family-style dinners.
A small, white ‘house’ structure and surrounding ‘garden’ displayed works that referenced either the domestic or nature. A woven entrance by Jia Xi Li will hung from the house’s frame, a bed, hand-painted, embodying the relentless defiance of Iranian women by Laila Tara H, experimental, wet plate photographs by Kasia Wozniak and photo work exploring rhinoplasty in Iran by Shirin Fathi. There was also a perch for six wearable crows to come to life through the performances of Isabel Castro Jung.
The ‘garden’ revealed animals drawn and painted by Robert Cooper; tombstones sculpted by Taryn O’Reilly; sumptuous paintings by Fuchsia; a digital well, tucked in the grass, created by Zongbo Jiang; a table with a woven top of hair and leather by Anouska Samms; and a fountain that gradually eroded from the acid held inside it by Urte Janus.
Sarabande was set up by the late designer, Lee Alexander McQueen, who left the majority of his estate to support creative and visionary talent. In addition to providing scholarships and studio space for artists, Sarabande produces a number of events, from the practical to the inspirational.