I dreamed I called you on the telephone, 2021

HD video, 15 min, commissioned by Jerwood Arts, London

Exhibition: 19 May - 17 July 2021

I dreamed I called you on the telephone is a moving image work which considers loss, illness and time under late capitalism. At its core is an excerpt from the poet Anne Boyer’s autopathography, The Undying (2019), a memoir that brutally tracks her experiences of cancer and the cancer industry in the USA.

Reconfigured in the context of I dreamed I called you on the telephone, Boyer’s call to “weaponise” one’s sick body against “what you hate and what hates you” is spoken as a monologue by the artist’s sister, an NHS midwife. With a range of protagonists and collaborators, including a fox, a midwife, a sewage works and a countertenor, the work explores ideas around bodily autonomy, grief and practices of care and resistance.

Throughout the film, a range of protagonists and collaborators are introduced, including a curious fox, a relentless sewage works and a lone countertenor singing the haunting ‘Sorrow, Stay’ by 16th Century composer John Dowland. Prosthetic limbs lie detached, useless and defenceless to nature, and we watch the fox tentatively tend to them before slowly tearing into inhuman flesh. Laying bare this lack of control and giving voice to the experience of loss, this work explores ideas around bodily autonomy, grief and care as a radical act.

Contributors and readers: Ella Golt, Becky Gray, Nik Rawlings, D-M Withers, Anna Clawson and Nicole Ward.

*The title is taken from the poem, For the Dead by Adrienne Rich, 1972

Jerwood Solo Presentations 2021 showcases new commissions by Emii Alrai, Freya Dooley and Bryony Gillard in three concurrent solo presentations at Jerwood Arts in London.

Now in its fifth year, Jerwood Solo Presentations creates a platform for the most outstanding early-career artists from across the UK to have their first major solo presentation in London’s thriving Southbank area only moments from Tate Modern. Selected and curated by Harriet Cooper, Head of Visual Arts at Jerwood Arts, it provides a fully resourced opportunity for three artists to develop a significant new commission at a pivotal moment in their career. The resulting exhibition creates a unique space for conversation and experimentation, across and between disciplines.