Christian Thompson AO: Being Human Human Being

8 Jun-30 Nov 2022

Overview

Soho Photography Quarter (SPQ) is an exciting new cultural space in Ramillies Place, W1, offering free open-air exhibitions and other events aimed at highlighting the very best of contemporary photography. The opening SPQ presentation comes from the acclaimed indigenous Australian contemporary artist, Dr. Christian Thompson AO. Being Human Human Being is an immersive site-specific installation of works including a large-scale art frieze, cross street banners, a sound scape and projections.

Formally trained as a sculptor, Thompson’s multidisciplinary practice engages mediums such as photography, video, sculpture, performance and sound. His works explore constructs and ideas of identity, sexuality, gender, cultural hybridity, memory and history, often highlighting the relationships between these concepts and the environment. He uses his own identity and multicultural background to interrogate and re-appropriate established, predominantly white systems of reference, as a way of imagining new personal positions.

Throughout his work, he creates and inhabits a range of personae through performance and what he calls ‘anti-portraits’, incorporating handcrafted costumes and carefully orchestrated poses and backdrops.Being Human Human Being presents work from the series’ King Billy (2010) and Flower Walls (2018-ongoing), both of which reflect on indigenous and diverse representation.The King Billy series highlights Thompson’s interest in fusing different elements to create a distinct, often unconventional visual language of his own.

Press

Soho Photography Quarter exhibition - Christian Thompson AO: Being Human Human Being | Press Release
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