Alleus is a new sound performance work by Prem Sahib, presented and co-commissioned by the Roberts Institute of Art and Somerset House Studios. The performance is Sahib’s first featuring live vocals.
Alleus (Suella spelled backwards) re-orders, re-directs and disrupts an anti-immigration speech by former UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman, raising the question of how we approach the damaging language often echoed through society in hate speech. As alluded to in the work’s title and the reversal of Braverman’s voice in the performance, Sahib plays on the trope of conspiracy theorists searching for meaning in reversed words, but also the act of ‘sending back’ — a repeated phrase used by Braverman in her anti-immigration speeches on the topic of the so-called ‘migrant crisis’.
In the performance, Braverman’s speech is diffused through a polyphony of voices by live singers, pre-recorded voices, and a backing track developed in collaboration with artist Woodsy Bransfield. Resisting the speech's individualistic message and the egotistical, empty nature of political rhetoric, Sahib works against the idea of being the voice of or speaking for certain groups, such as refugees or the British people.
The performance will premiere during Somerset House Studio’s Assembly, before travelling to the Edinburgh Art Festival in August 2024, where it will be presented as part of their 20th birthday edition.
