2018

University College London Portico
Slade Graduate Summer Show

2 photographs (470 x 470 cm each) printed on canvas, scaffold structure and water canisters

Gravid is a site-specific installation made for the 19th century UCL Portico in London. Inspired by its architectural setting and early archival photographs, the work connects my memories of giving birth at the UCL hospital to the many cupolas surrounding the university courtyard. Two black and white images of a pregnant abdomen (a plan and an elevation), placed behind the monumental columns of the university portico, simultaneously contradict and enhance their architectural and academic setting. Gravid activates a personal memory, turning it into a collective experience. Scaled up and abstracted, the photographs of the pregnant female body become open to multiple readings, as two phases of a moon, gigantic eggs or enormous breasts.

In 2019, during the Coventry Biennial 'The Twin', Gravid Plan and Gravid Elevation were hung in the covered court of the Herbert Gallery.