Chisenhale Gallery, London E3
chisenhale.org.uk

This Chisenhale Crit took place during the exhibition Alia Farid's exhibition Elsewere (1st Dec 2023 - 4th Feb 2024) at Chisenhale Gallery, with guest responder artist and poet Julianknxx , facilitated by Peer Sessions (Kate Pickering and Charlotte Warne Thomas) to dicuss the work of two artists and elicit feedback from the assembled group.

Daniel & Clara presented a film When I look at you I see myself, single channel video, 2023 (17 min) which entailed a single 'head and shoulders' shot of a bird of prey. The conversation revolved around the way the framing and backdrop encouraged an anthropomorphic interpretation of the bird, with many people feeling like it was a portrait of the bird. Other comments focussed on the duration of the film, which drew attention to the act of looking, and how this linked to bird-spotting, the ethics of scrutinising a non-human subject in such detail, and what might be at stake.

Tami Soji-Akinyemi presented two painted canvases, Umpire, 2023 and From the Undergrowth, 2023. Initially the group engaged with the holes in the canvas and whether they referred to violence or some kind of struggle, or whether they were more metaphorical and might represent some idea of interiority. There was much discussion about the colours and whether they were bodily or representative of decay, and of how they might relate to the respective titles of the paintings.

Daniel and Clara are an artist duo based in Mersea Island on the Essex coast, UK. Since meeting in 2010 Daniel & Clara have dedicated themselves to a shared life of creative experimentation, working across moving image, photography, performance and mail art to explore the nature of human experience, perception and reality.

https://danielandclara.com/