Commissioned by Radiator, Nottingham 2002
This group of works, in whcih I make myself into a swarm, follows on from a number of others: Avid Metamorphosis I and II, Shrinking the Miniature and Hidden Seas /Surface Waters, that touch upon the possibility of re-negotiating the limits of the body/self.
Exhibited: National Review of Live Art, Glasgow 1994 and ICA, London 1995
Commissioned: Now 96. Exhibited: Bonnington Gallery, Nottingham 1996
Commissioned: Bluecoat Arts Centre and Visionfest.
Exhibited: Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool 1997
![s[H]elf I](/img/rl/h1/ffffff/666666/s%5BH%5Delf%20I.gif)
![s[H]elf I](/2009/02/01/peter-171x136.jpg)
Commissioned: Performulate. Exhibited: Cambridge Darkroom 1998
Performance for camera, 1999 - Duration 11 minutes
Drawing on family experience of physical disability Hidden Seas /
Surface Waters attempted to articulate a body of difference, whose
boundaries remain physiologically and psychologically fluid,
inverting the characteristic function of light as a source of
'illumination'.
The use of silhouettes within the work references the 18th century
physiognomic experiments of James Lavater, who attempted to read
from the profile of his sitters their moral and spiritual 'nature'.
Supported by a London Arts Board - London Hybrids Research and
Development Award.
Production support Irish Museum of Modern Art and Arthouse,
Dublin.
Residency and screening: Irish Musueum of Modern Art, Dublin. 1999
Exhibited, Spacex, Exeter. 2003
A selection from a larger body of images, culled from the internet using the word underwater as a search term, first presented as a slide show at Earth and Ocean Day at the National Oceanography Centre, March 09.
Ranging from 19th century illustrations of Jules Verne's 20,000.00 Leagues Under the Sea, to designs for the proposed Poseidon Mystery Island underwater resort, they chart the emergence of the undersea within visual culture, revealing an increasing drive towards its domestication and a loss of the awe and foreboding that initially characterised such images.
Also notable is the extent to which women seem to both figure within and comfortably inhabit the undersea world.
