Alexi Marshall
Alice Anderson
Alicia Radage
Alicia Reyes McNamara
Anna Perach
Ariane Heloise Hughes
Ayla Dmyterko
Becky Tucker
Bethany Stead
Camilla Hanney
Cecilia Charlton
Chantal Powell
Ingrid Berthon-M0ine
KV Duong
Maria Konder
Richard Malone
Scarlett Pochet
Today we have light, tomorrow shadow, says the song.
Ironic? Not really. My father is the ironic one.
I have my own ideas about it.
At our backs is a big anarchy.
If you are strong you can twist a bit off
And pound on it – your freedom!
- Anne Carson from ‘TV Men: Antigone (Scripts 1 and 2)’ in Men in the Off Hours (2000)
Hypha Studios HQ is pleased to present Antigone Revisited, a group exhibition curated by Marcelle Joseph. Adopting a hybrid invitational and open call model, the curator chose the 17 participating artists from an incredibly strong cohort of over 300 applicants to feature their work in this exhibition that coincides with Frieze London.
The tragedy of Antigone written by Sophocles in 441 BC has attracted writers and dramatists throughout the ages from Jean Cocteau in 1922 to this excerpt from Anne Carson’s 2000 anthology of essays and poetry. Just as Cocteau turned to the drama of ancient Greece for inspiration after the upheaval of World War I, this exhibition turns to the contemporary poet Anne Carson and her interpretation of the Greek heroine of Antigone for guidance in our present era of societal crisis. And just as the Cubists and Surrealists made revolutionary changes in the field of visual art around the same time as Cocteau’s Antigone, the 17 artists in this exhibition create works with the same effect while mining myths, folk tales and pagan practices from the past or building their own worlds as they process the intense drama played out on the world stage today - whether it be the Ukraine conflict, the Israel-Gaza war, the catastrophic effects of climate change, the struggle to protect our individual identity or the constant battle to stop the infringement of citizens’ rights in our world’s democracies. Just as the epigraph to this exhibition ends in a hope for personal freedom, the works of these artists present a united front in these times of collapsing liberties and constitute a collective strength or light akin to the Greek heroine Antigone.
Spanning painting, sculpture, photography, installation and drawing, Antigone Revisited also incorporates a diverse range of materials that date back to ancient times, such as clay, wool, beeswax, lavender, cotton, mosaic tile, bronze, hessian and aluminium, alongside other modern materials, such as the latex in KV Duong’s work that also links back historically to the oppressive conditions of the French colonial rubber trade in Vietnam and the sumptuous fabric employed in Richard Malone’s performance vessels where the artist is critiquing various translations of Greek myths that have left out the queer identity of many of its protagonists. In Ann Carson’s words, each artist in their own unique way ‘twists…off’ a bit of freedom, whether it be in their creative expression or the underlying meaning of their work, be it universal, personal or political.
Curator Marcelle Joseph adds:
“As the geopolitical and environmental complexities of the world continue to proliferate in a downward spiral, the artists here use mythology, folklore and worldbuilding to posit a utopic future of freedom. A freedom to do the right thing and go against the powers that be in the spirit of Antigone.”
