“You have to slow down, concentrate and think about the elements around you,” said South London photographer (and Dazed 100 alum) Alfie White in an interview with Dazed last year. He was talking about photography, but the same could be said of creativity as a whole. The reflective mood of White’s black-and-white documentary photographs is found warped and reimagined in the oversharing memes of Babeworld, or in the gloopy, tactile films of Erin Collins, all of which come together in a new exhibition at Somers Gallery.
Aiming to reflect the world around us and the changing role of art within it, the London gallery’s latest group show is titled Full House, and brings together no less than six contemporary artists, curated by art critic Sacha Craddock. Each of the artists was actually shortlisted for Craddock’s SPECTRUM Award in 2022, which unfortunately went unrealised due to a lack of funding.
In fact, funding itself takes the spotlight in Babeworld’s contribution to the show, “Derby Day”, in which a casual account of a horror film funding application turns into a parodic representation of the hypocrisy and dehumanisation of the UK arts sector. Elsewhere, a film installation by Erin Collins showcases the more sensory aspects of filmmaking, as goo drips down various body parts, walking a tightrope between desire and disgust.
Full House isn’t limited to filmmaking, though. Alongside Alfie White’s photographs – which themselves take the viewer inside a range of spaces, from intimate interiors to dusky graveyards – the show features paintings by Glenn Wilkinson and Nathan Cash Davidson, each tapping historic references to draw parallels with contemporary culture. Then, rounding out the exhibition, are Lesley O’Neill’s expressive prints of doll faces, rendered in spooky monochrome.
Get a glimpse of what’s on show at Full House in the gallery above.
The exhibition opens today (August 31) with a private view at Somers Gallery, running until October 14.