Seen Fifteen is delighted to announce a solo exhibition of new work by London-based artist Gabby Laurent, opening for the 7th edition of Peckham 24 festival of contemporary photography across the weekend of 12th-14th May 2023. As part of the festival programme curated on the theme of BODY LANGUAGE, Laurent will present a new series titled, Shrieking Wailing Sobbing, inspired by the essay, The Gender of Sound, by Anne Carson.
“It is in large part according to the sounds people make that we judge them sane or insane, male or female, good, evil, trustworthy, depressive, marriageable, moribund, likely or unlikely to make war on us, little better than animals, inspired by god. These judgements happen fast and can be brutal”
Anne Carson, The Gender of Sound
Shrieking Wailing Sobbing continues Gabby Laurent’s ongoing exploration of what it means to be a woman in the world. Her interdisciplinary practice sits at the intersection of photography and performance, and reflects on female experience through works that often blend darkness with humour. Where past series have centred her own body as the mode of expression, in this new work Laurent directs and choreographs actresses to perform for her camera.
The series reclaims words historically used as derogatory terms to describe female emotion – words that have belittled female behaviour to demonise and conjure fear. Channelling a quiet rage at the patriarchal systems that have sought to constrain women across the centuries, Laurent instead celebrates the melodrama as she takes back control.
“I want to embrace this disorderly and uncontrolled outflow of sound and what this means for women”
Gabby Laurent
ABOUT GABBY LAURENT
Gabby Laurent is a London based artist working with photography and performance. She graduated with a Photography MA from Plymouth University in 2017.
OPENING WEEKEND LATE VIEW
Friday 12th May
6pm to 10pm, as part of Peckham 24 Festival 2023
OPENING HOURS
Friday to Sunday, 11-5pm
And by appointment
ABOUT PECKHAM 24 2023
Since its inception in 2016, Peckham 24 has celebrated emerging and established artists working with photography. It has become an annual celebratory event during Photo London Week, welcoming all those interested in contemporary photographic practice. Copeland Park and the Bussey Building will once again host this year’s festival for one weekend in May, transforming this creative corner south of the river into a bustling hub for photography lovers from across the world.
Across photography exhibitions and a related performance programme artists will respond to this year’s theme of BODY LANGUAGE. From the body politic and performed identities to the disembodied spaces of online dating and chatbots, the works on display consider the body and its gestures in all its multiplicity. Ultimately going beyond the boundaries of the singular, the artists included in BODY LANGUAGE consider the social conditions under which our bodies are made, and the ways in which such oppressive structures can be rebelled against.