In Conversation: Mary Evans, Adam Farah-Saad, Anthea Hamilton

In Conversation: Mary Evans, Adam Farah-Saad, Anthea Hamilton

This talk will be presented in the framework of The Perimeter’s current exhibition, Ensemble, which features the works of Anthea Hamilton and Adam Farah-Saad. During this discussion we will focus on each of the artists' relationship to archival histories, considering how they use choreography and collage as a collective discipline.

Ensemble is a group exhibition that explores staging as a methodology for examining history through its incompleteness. Throughout this exhibition each artist takes part in a process of archival excavation, reimagining the ways in which we record and assign value to history - and in turn, determine what stories are told and remembered.

Date: Tuesday 11 March 2025, 6:30 - 8:00 pm

Location: Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre, UCL, The Slade School of Fine Art

Panel: Mary Evans, Adam Farah-Saad, Anthea Hamilton; moderated by the exhibitions curator Sasha Ercole

Tickets are free, however booking is required

Mary Evans is an artist with a national and international reputation. Having studied at Goldsmiths and the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, Evans’s practice is centred on the social, political, geographical and historical frameworks of Diaspora, migration, global mobility and exchange. This cross-cultural discourse is paralleled by a secondary discourse that links methods of image production, ’fine art’ and ‘craft’, decoration, and ornament.

In her practice Evans uses brown kraft paper and other disposable materials to interrogate sites, stories, place and belonging often in the form of large-scale site and research responsive installations in an enquiry that explores the power relationships between Africa and Europe while moving across the real and imagined, mapping the ephemeral and unmappable. The silhouette, a well-known European visual device is utilised to make the Black body visible as a site for historical and contemporary narratives of resilience, mobility, geography, and memory.

Appointed in late 2023 as the Director of the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, Evans was the BA Fine Art course leader at Chelsea College of Arts. As an educator, Evans is invested in challenging barriers to education and widening access to the arts.

Evans has taken part in several exhibitions, commissions and residencies in the UK and Internationally including 3rd Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou China (2008); Meditations, Baltimore Museum of Art USA (2008); Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship Washington DC, USA (2010); The Arts & Literary Arts Residency, Rockefeller Foundation, Bellagio Italy (2014); Lagos Photo, Lagos Nigeria (2018); 11 Biennial Do Mercosul – Porto Alegre, Brazil (2018); Paper Routes: Women to Watch 2020, NMWA USA (2020); Breathe, META Open Arts, London (2022); Gilt, Zeitz MOCCA Cape Town SA (2023).

Adam Farah-Saad is a multidisciplinary artist and lecturer whose practice spans photography, sculpture, installation, moving image, writing, and performative gestures. Grounded in the spiritual, emotional, and geographical textures of urban life, his work often weaves together seductive aesthetic assemblages, opening up spaces for critical and sincere reflection and connection. Through these spaces, he explores what it means to love, grow, and survive as a human. Farah-Saad recontextualizes images, objects, and narratives to reveal their sensual and affective dimensions, paying homage to the layered connections of city life. Drawing from the creative energy of communities that shaped him—from the council estates to the gay bars—he invites audiences to rethink their relationships with cultural and spatial dynamics, expanding their aesthetic and emotional experiences.

Recent solo exhibitions include: B-SIDES (THE RE-UP / PSYCHOCRUISING FAITHFUL MIX), Public Gallery, London (2023); WHAT I’VE LEARNED FROM YOU AND MYSELF (PEAK MOMENTATIONS / INSIDE MY VELVET ROPE MIX), Camden Arts Centre, London (2021); and PRAISE N PAY IT / PULL UP, COME INTO THE RISE, South London Gallery (2018). Farah-Saad has participated in numerous group exhibitions, at venues such as Bold Tendencies, London (2024); Metroland Cultures, London (2024); Public Gallery, London (2024); Capc Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux (2024, 2023); Arcadia Missa, London (2023); No.9 Cork Street, London (2021); Galerie Sultana, Paris (2020).

In 2022 he was on the Curatorial Committee of the Brent Biennale. He is the recipient of the Focus Stand Prize 2023 at Frieze London, the 2021 LOEWE FOUNDATION / Studio Voltaire Award, and the South London Gallery Postgraduate Residency Award (2017). His work is part of the permanent collections of Tate, UK and the Arts Council, UK.

Anthea Hamilton was born in London in 1978, where she lives and works. She was one of four shortlisted artists for the 2016 Turner Prize. Her approach has often focused on extended study into archives, scientific research and popular culture combining these with resonant images and objects in unusual and surreal ways. In addition, Hamilton consistently considers aspects of presentation beyond her objects and images, applying wallpaper, carpet, vinyl and painted surfaces to the walls and floors and introducing costume and performance within her work.

Recent solo presentations include: Othello: A Play, De Singel, Antwerp, Belgium (2024); Decade of Emotion, Bourse de Commerce - Pinault Collection, Paris, France (2023); Cold, Cold Heart, kaufmann repetto, Milan, Italy; Mash Up, Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, Belgium (2022); Primetime, a commission by Hayward Gallery, London, England (2022); The Prude, Thomas Dane Gallery, London, England (2019); The New Life, Secession, Vienna, Austria (2018); The Squash, Tate Britain, London, England (2018); Anthea Hamilton Reimagines Kettle’s Yard, Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, England (2017); Lichen! Libido! Chastity!, SculptureCenter, Long Island City, New York NY (2015); Kabuki, The Tanks, Tate Modern, London, England (2012); Sorry I’m Late , Firstsite, Colchester, England (2012); Les Modules, Foundation Pierre Berge – Yves Saint Laurent, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2012); and Gymnasium, Chisenhale Gallery, London, England (2008). Her work has been presented as part of the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019, the British Art Show 8 and in numerous international venues including the Schinkel Pavilion, Berlin (with Nicholas Byrne), the 13th Lyon Biennale, and the 10th Gwangju Biennale.

The Perimeter is a non-profit contemporary art gallery in London, founded by Alexander V. Petalas. The exhibition programme is defined by The Perimeter’s objective to elevate British and international contemporary artists at pivotal moments in their careers.

Since opening in 2018, The Perimeter has staged solo exhibitions dedicated to Carmen Herrera, Sarah Lucas, Ron Nagle, Anj Smith, Anna Uddenberg and Joseph Yaeger, among others. Group exhibitions, often in partnership with external curators and institutions, have highlighted the work of artists including Phyllida Barlow, Anthea Hamilton, Rachel Jones, Helen Marten, Rene Matić, Walter Price, Wolfgang Tillmans and Salman Toor.

For further details, please visit our website at www.theperimeter.co.uk

With special thanks to Public Gallery, Thomas Dane Gallery, and the University College London for hosting this event.

Image courtesy of Liverpool Central Library and Archives.

Host or Publisher The Perimeter