Visceral Shadows, the first solo exhibition since 2016 by sculptor Emma Hunter, opens today at the Bethlem Gallery in Beckenham.
‘Hung up to dry’: the Bethlem Gallery exhibition will be Emma Hunter’s first for 10 years
Hunter is “a sculptor interested in the surrealism of everyday life”. Her work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, Royal West Academy and Royal Scottish Academy. She is a recipient of the distinguished bursary award to join the Royal Society of Sculptors.
Based between Edinburgh and London, she works at the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, one of Scotland’s leading centres for contemporary sculpture.
Visceral Shadows “entangles two bodies of work created seven years apart, before and after giving birth”, the Bethlem Gallery says.
“The latter works express her physical and emotional lived experiences of matrescence, the process of becoming a mother, with the sculptural forms becoming vehicles for cathartic release and healing.”
Founded in 1997 to nurture artist opportunities for current and former psychiatric service users of the Bethlem Royal Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, Bethlem Gallery has evolved to become a valued space for artists and an influential independent charity.
Led by Clore Fellow and Director Sophie Leighton since 2020, today it provides both creative support and commercial representation to artists. In its public gallery spaces, it presents four free exhibitions annually, accompanied by in-person and online talks, workshops and symposiums.
This Visceral Shadows exhibition explores universal themes through Hunter’s personal series of works using a diverse range of materials including bronze and latex.
Artist at work: Emma Hunter will be giving a talk at the Bethlem Gallery on Sat Sep 19
The combinations of heavy, labour-intensive materials, fragile ceramics and fabrics appear throughout the exhibition, giving “sense of tension, play, and connect the works to the themes of the body”.
At the centre of the exhibition is the sculpture “Hung Up to Dry”, “a striking piece which combines both the soft and hard materials of bronze and rope”.
Hunter said: “It’s such a great honour to bring together these pre- and post-matrescence sculpture works at Bethlem Gallery. The location couldn’t be more fitting, as in a way, the site marks the end and starting off point of art making in my story.
“My work stems from the personal, I’ve had more than a lifetime of experiences these last eight or nine years, and to start to express these in visceral matter is wonderful.
“For me the process of making is a meditation amidst a noisy backdrop. I hope some conversations open and connections are felt.
“I’ve been exceptionally well supported by curator, Karim Sultan and the Gallery, and I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity permitted by the Henry Moore Foundation.”
The exhibition runs from September 16 to December 5.
On Saturday (September 19) Hunter will be in conversation with Bethlem Gallery curator Karim Sultan “to explore the themes and process behind the making of Visceral Shadows.” The talk will be followed by a guided, interactive tour of the exhibition. “Both the talk and tour will be hybrid events (in person and online),” the gallery says.
The Bethlem Gallery is at Bethlem Royal Hospital, Monks Orchard Road, Beckenham, BR3 3BX. It is situated in the the 240-acre grounds of Bethlem Hospital and shares a building with Bethlem Museum of the Mind. The grounds, the museum and the gallery are open to the public free of charge.
The SL5 Superloop bus runs from East Croydon to The Bethlem Royal Hospital stop, directly outside the main entrance. Routes 356, 119 and 198 also stop nearby.
The gallery’s opening hours are Wednesday to Saturday, 9.30am-5pm.
For more information, visit the gallery’s website bethlemgallery.com
For more about Emma Hunter, visit her website emmahuntersculpture.com
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