Underworlds

https://www.seventeengallery.com/exhibitions/underworlds/

9th – 24th August 2024
PV Thursday 8th August 2024

Ciana Taylor
Grace Mcnerney
Joana Azevedo
Charli Kleeman
Jamie Seechurn
Suzannah Pettigrew
Ava Cowperthwaite
Tertia Paterson
HECK
Riley Butler

“The shadow becomes hostile when it is ignored or misunderstood”- Marie – Louise Von Franz, ‘The Process of Individuation’, Man and His Symbols, 1964.

‘Underworlds’ is a realm where distinctions between light and dark, inner, and outer, become fluid; questioning the paradigms that govern our interactions and perceptions.

Moving through this exhibition, you will traverse a range of fictional artefacts scattered like dropped relics. Descending below, cracked, stone hands float in the space like spirit guides.You’ll see two lifeless fawns imposed onto a household rug by Grace Mcnerney. On the opposite wall hangs Joana Azevedo’s metal exoskeleton, a microphone enclosed within its chest cavity. A video piece by Ciana Taylor, replicating an Irish sex education video from the 80’s, plays from a CRT TV. A light box glows a pale grey. In the centre of the room a pew stands parallel to a mirror suspended from the ceiling, please sit inside, and listen to a recursive gnostic prayer if you desire to.

The next room is illuminated. Suzannah Pettigrew’s photo-sculpture gently sways from the ceiling, kept in motion by a fan positioned behind it. Three framed drawings by Ava Cowperthwaite adorn the walls, illustrating the human body amidst personal iconographies. The exhibition culminates with the last room, the darkest room. The room is guarded by Charlie Kleeman’s decorated metal chanfron, a piece of armour worn by medieval horses in battle, fixed to an arched metal stand. At the back, you’ll see a serene pool of water and CG video installation by Jamie Seechurn that envisions a landscape of desolate caves covered in ancient carvings – a world free from fear-based binaries.

Each artist brings their own aspect to the shared semiotic network of the show, and each piece serves as a narrative thread in a tapestry of shadows. ‘Underworlds’ delves into the consequences of denial, it gazes at the possibility of shifting away from an unquestioned assigned rulebook, towards a mutually respected intuitive compass.

What happens when we condemn our capacity for darkness?