Melanie Manchot
For a moment between strangers
3 November - 2 December 2001
A major exhibition of photographic and video work by artist Melanie Manchot. Four separate series of work, including a new installation for ArtSway, investigate moments where notions of intimacy are blurred.
Liminal Portraits are a development from Manchot’s previous black and white photographic work and feature the artist’s mother. Earlier work deals with notions of identity through questioning ideas of beauty, visibility and the politics of representation. Continuing and expanding upon these concerns, these new images investigate the dynamics of public and private space. Large colour photographs show Manchot’s naked mother depicted in front of spectacular landscapes and cityscapes. Tension is created between the intimacy of naked flesh and the sublime expanse of the surrounding environment. It poses questions regarding the acceptability of public display, expectations of the body’s performance and our desires to both reconcile and understand images as consistent unities.
London Eye I, C-type on Aluminium, 2001
In For a Moment Between Strangers, Manchot approaches people in the street and asks for a kiss recording their responses with hidden video and sound cameras. The resulting raw footage captures a spontaneous moment in which the boundaries of ‘normal’ behaviour are frequently crossed. Collecting kisses from over 100 strangers, this work aims to investigate whether moments of intimacy can occur between strangers in the urban space and whether the anonymity of such public environment can be interrupted. In the gallery, the viewer is captured in between two images of people leaning to embrace. This work is shown as a two screen DVD installation comprising one projection and one monitor.
For a moment between strangers (digital still), video installation, 2001
In new work (developed as part of ArtSway’s NavvyGate residency programme funded by the Regional Arts Lottery Programme through Southern Arts) Manchot has extended the concerns of work commenced during a residency at The Macdowell Colony in the USA. In panoramic photographs and a video triptych Manchot explores a forest environment to investigate notions of the individual and the place. It also acts as a backdrop for work exploring different psychological states. The forest is reminiscent of notions of fairy tale and fantasy conjururing up childhood fears (and adult concerns) about being lost . This work deals with ideas of slippage; moments and places where one finds oneself questioning the real. This encompasses occasions of confusion revealing the potentiality of loss.
The exhibition is accompanied by a major new publication, Love is a Stranger, published by Prestel to be launched at the ICA London on the 2nd November 2001.
Melanie Manchot is represented by Rhodes + Mann, London. She exhibits regularly both in the UK and abroad. Forthcoming exhibitions are scheduled for Cornerhouse, Manchester; Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Oregon, USA; Stadtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Germany and Hampden Gallery, University of Massachusetts, USA.
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