AWITA X JW ANDERSON
Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings & Shadi Al-Atallah
Curated by Beth Greenacre and Madeleine Martin
6th July - 15th July | Install Photography
“Our work developed from looking critically at mainstream gay identities, while there are things we value about those identities, they can also be claustrophobic and oppressive.” - Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings, ARTSY Editorial, 4 November 2016
“To me, painting the body takes away its limitations. It allows for emotions to be embodied truly and freely.” - Shadi Al-Atallah, Ones to Watch, Emily Street Elephant, 23 July 2021
The curators are excited to bring the work of Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings and Shadi Al-Atallah together for the first time in an installation at JW Anderson’s flagship store in the centre of Soho which by the 1990s had established itself as the centre of London's - white, macho - gay scene. Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings and Shadi Al-Atallah rather explore queer communities, politics, histories and aesthetics of queer spaces and identities via a female and non-binary lens.
It is poignant to present the work of artists who explore how the political domain has always been permeated with the cultural and political practices of dress, display and bodily performance within the context of JW Anderson’s store, a designer who undermines gender binaries, and launching the exhibition in the week proceeding London Gay Pride.
Shadi Al-Atallah is a multidisciplinary artist based between London and Bahrain. The artist produces life-sized mixed media paintings incorporating dynamic ‘distorted self-portraits’ which are created using compilations of body parts, not necessarily their own, to explore the intersections of their mixed-race queer identity, their childhood in Saudi Arabia and journey into adulthood. As a child growing up in Saudi Arabia, Al-Atallah was selective mute and identified as female, they explored painting to be a means of escape and form of communication; “I found freedom in the auditory silence and visual noise”.
Through their practice Al-Atallah draws on the concept of ‘Catharsis’. The twisting, moving bodies recall spirit conjuring dances practiced among Arabs of African descent in the Arabian Gulf Region, as well as modern interpretations of expulsive dancing such as voguing. Their allusion to this spiritual practise and reinterpretation in self-portraits is laden with meaning, invoked by Al-Atallah to demonstrate the transformational process of identity formation, as well as how both past and contemporary identity politics come to bear upon it.
Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings’ practice examines the behaviours and artefacts of LBGTQ+ culture in the western context, exploring how this culture is reflective of broader societal structures, often exposing the impact of state violence - policing, gentrification and austerity- on the LBGTQ+ community. Throughout the duo explore queer territories and like Al-Atallah, have examined dance and the performing body. Their work exposes how the gay scene caters predominantly to white gay men, catering to an audience with the financial power to craft institutions to their own sexuality and desire.
‘Gaby’ 2018, consists of three short vignettes which examine LGBTQ+ representation and addresses the connections between gay culture and wider systems of - internal and external violence. The film opens with found footage of police officers at pride marches momentarily sidestepping their duties and awkwardly twerking and voguing to The Village People’s Y.M.C.A. Over the last decade similar sequences have been making headlines and their apparent amicability clashes strongly with todays alarming raise in police brutality. Y.M.C.A served as an anthem of the post-Stonewall era of sexual liberation in New York’s West Village — which, in turn, triggered the neighbourhoods rapid gentrification. The police footage is followed with cuts from gay magazine, Christopher Street, applauding, mostly white, male gay communities’ propensity to rejuvenate disgraced neighbourhoods and ‘save’ Manhattan from the ‘slums’. The final vignette recounts a relationship between the eponymous Gaby and an encounter at Kubar, one of Soho's gay venues 5 minutes walk from JW Anderson Soho. The encounter results in a brief relationship with a straight-presenting gay policeman, offering an insight in to the gay police community and wider discrimination.
Beth Greenacre is an experienced curator, advisor and consultant working with private and corporate collectors, as well as commercial and not-for-profit organisations. She has more than 20 years’ art market experience, specialising in International Modern, Post-War and Contemporary Art. Beth is the curator of AllBright, the leading career network for women to connect, upskill and supercharge their careers through physical and digital spaces. Beth is a member of the Courtauld Association Committee and an Advisory Board member of She CURAtes: The Residency.
Madeleine Martin originally from Oslo, Norway started her Art Advisory in 2017, Madeleine advises corporate and private collectors from Europe and the US as a specialist in contemporary art. Her insight and guidance around private sales and advisory is built from years over 20 years experience; starting at Gagosian Gallery, London before becoming a Director at Laura Bartlett Gallery and more recently as a Director at Hauser & Wirth, London. Madeleine is a mentor for artists and art professionals, and hold talks for corporations and regular art events/talks for NBCC (Norwegian British Chambers of Commerce)