Marianna Simnett
Blood In My Milk
04 Sep 2018 - 06 Jan 2019
Marianna Simnett, Worst Gift, 2017 (still).
Single-channel HD video and light installation, 5.1 sound, color, LEDs; 18 min.
Courtesy the artist and Matt’s Gallery
Single-channel HD video and light installation, 5.1 sound, color, LEDs; 18 min.
Courtesy the artist and Matt’s Gallery
MARIANNA SIMNETT
Blood In My Milk
04 September 2018 – 06 January 2019
Curated by Helga Christoffersen, Associate Curator
“BLOOD IN MY MILK” IS THE TITLE OF A NEW FILM AND SOUND INSTALLATION BY MARIANNA SIMNETT (B. 1986, KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES, UNITED KINGDOM) AND THE ARTIST’S FIRST INSTITUTIONAL SOLO EXHIBITION IN THE US.
Bringing together new multi-screen edits of four of Simnett’s most important works to date—The Udder (2014), Blood (2015), Blue Roses (2015), and Worst Gift (2017)—this exhibition is a survey of her filmic universe and an exploration of her ongoing preoccupation with anxieties around the body and the self. Experienced as one continuous narrative across five screens, this presentation chronicles Simnett’s close look at female organs, body parts, and infection through the lens of medical treatment and procedures.
In her film, light, and sound work, Simnett uses storytelling and fables of children and animals to guide a cast of characters through events that expose the subtle layers of violence and control that surround us. In “Blood In My Milk,” narratives bleed together: medical experts and scientists perform routine injections and operations that play out alongside paranoid tales of sickness and transformation, often with Simnett herself as the protagonist. Accompanied by a new soundtrack, “Blood In My Milk” channels a discomfort with sterile environments and the invisible alien substances in our bodies, which medical and industrial procedures aim to conceal.
Marianna Simnett (b. 1986, Kingston-upon-Thames, UK) lives and works in London. Solo exhibitions and commissions include the forthcoming Museum für Modern Kunst, Frankfurt (2018) and E-Werk, Freiburg, Germany (2019), as well as Art on the Underground, London (2017); Matt’s Gallery, London (2017); Seventeen Gallery, New York and London (2016); Serpentine Pavilion, London (2015); and Comar, Isle of Mull, Scotland (2015). Her work is also included in recent and forthcoming group exhibitions and screenings, among them the Athens Biennial (2018); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2018); Sadie Coles, London (2018); the touring exhibition “Transitional States,” Lincoln, UK, London, Barcelona, and Bologna (2018); Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway (2017); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2017); Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (2016); FACT and Bluecoat, Liverpool (2016); and Chronus Art Center, Shanghai (2015). Simnett is a winner of the Jerwood/FVU Award (2014), the Adrian Carruthers Studio Award (2013), and the William Coldstream Memorial Prize (2013). She was shortlisted for the Jarman Award and a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award in 2017.
Blood In My Milk
04 September 2018 – 06 January 2019
Curated by Helga Christoffersen, Associate Curator
“BLOOD IN MY MILK” IS THE TITLE OF A NEW FILM AND SOUND INSTALLATION BY MARIANNA SIMNETT (B. 1986, KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES, UNITED KINGDOM) AND THE ARTIST’S FIRST INSTITUTIONAL SOLO EXHIBITION IN THE US.
Bringing together new multi-screen edits of four of Simnett’s most important works to date—The Udder (2014), Blood (2015), Blue Roses (2015), and Worst Gift (2017)—this exhibition is a survey of her filmic universe and an exploration of her ongoing preoccupation with anxieties around the body and the self. Experienced as one continuous narrative across five screens, this presentation chronicles Simnett’s close look at female organs, body parts, and infection through the lens of medical treatment and procedures.
In her film, light, and sound work, Simnett uses storytelling and fables of children and animals to guide a cast of characters through events that expose the subtle layers of violence and control that surround us. In “Blood In My Milk,” narratives bleed together: medical experts and scientists perform routine injections and operations that play out alongside paranoid tales of sickness and transformation, often with Simnett herself as the protagonist. Accompanied by a new soundtrack, “Blood In My Milk” channels a discomfort with sterile environments and the invisible alien substances in our bodies, which medical and industrial procedures aim to conceal.
Marianna Simnett (b. 1986, Kingston-upon-Thames, UK) lives and works in London. Solo exhibitions and commissions include the forthcoming Museum für Modern Kunst, Frankfurt (2018) and E-Werk, Freiburg, Germany (2019), as well as Art on the Underground, London (2017); Matt’s Gallery, London (2017); Seventeen Gallery, New York and London (2016); Serpentine Pavilion, London (2015); and Comar, Isle of Mull, Scotland (2015). Her work is also included in recent and forthcoming group exhibitions and screenings, among them the Athens Biennial (2018); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2018); Sadie Coles, London (2018); the touring exhibition “Transitional States,” Lincoln, UK, London, Barcelona, and Bologna (2018); Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway (2017); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2017); Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (2016); FACT and Bluecoat, Liverpool (2016); and Chronus Art Center, Shanghai (2015). Simnett is a winner of the Jerwood/FVU Award (2014), the Adrian Carruthers Studio Award (2013), and the William Coldstream Memorial Prize (2013). She was shortlisted for the Jarman Award and a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award in 2017.