© Elle PérezWhat is the work of art today?
In an era of rising authoritarianism, the work of art is perhaps more consequential than ever. How can we use photography to preserve history? Is it possible to create lines of undeniability in an era where collective memory is clouded by constant crisis, and erasure is weaponised? How can photography speak to the ephemeral condition of living? And what role does community play in those ideas and gestures?
Gem Fletcher is joined by Rene Matić and Elle Pérez.
Bios
Rene Matić is a London-based artist and writer whose practice spans photography, film, and sculpture, converging in a meeting place they describe as "rude(ness)" - an evidencing and honouring of the in-between. Matić riffs on a documentary, diaristic style of photography, with snapshots of everyday moments and poetic juxtapositions, which are then used to create installations, grouping images to surreptitiously bring out buried tensions and paradoxes. Recent solo exhibitions include Turner Prize 2025, Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford, UK (2025); Idols Lovers Mothers Friends, Arcadia Missa, London, UK (2025); AS OPPOSED TO THE TRUTH, CCA Berlin, Berlin, DE (2024); Rene Matić/Oscar Murillo JAZZ, Kunsthalle Wien Museumsquartier, Vienna, AT (2024); a girl for the living room, Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol, UK (2023); upon this rock, Kunstverein Gartenhaus, Vienna, AT (2023), upon this rock, South London Gallery, London, UK (2022), among more.
Elle Pérez lives and works in New York City. Pérez primarily works in photography and moving image, depicting intimate moments, emotional exchanges, and visceral details within their portraits, landscapes, and films. Recent solo exhibitions include: “Devotions,” Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland (2023); “Host,” Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles (2021); “Devotions,” Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (2021); “from sun to sun,” Public Art Fund, New York (2019) and “Diablo,” MoMA PS1, New York (2018). Their work has been included in group exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2023); the Ballroom Marfa, Marfa, Texas (2022); the Renaissance Society, Chicago (2020); Barbican Centre, London (2020); Brooklyn Museum, New York (2019) and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2019); among others. They are currently an Assistant Professor of photography at Yale University. They have previously held appointments as an Assistant Professor of Art, Film, and Visual Studies at Harvard University, and Dean at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. They participated in both the 2022 Venice Biennale and the 2022 New England Triennial. Their solo exhibition, “Intimacies,” is currently on view at MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts. They were also recently awarded the 2022-23 Rome Prize in the visual arts.
Gem Fletcher is a writer, consultant and podcaster whose work explores photography, art and contemporary culture and how they shape and inform who we are and how we live. Her work has been published in Foam, Aperture, Dazed, It’s Nice That. Creative Review, 1000 Words and The British Journal of Photography. She has written monograph texts for Rhiannon Adam, Juan Brenner, Maggie Shannon and Flora Hanitijo, amongst others. She also hosts The Messy Truth podcast, a series of candid conversations that unpack the future of visual culture and what it means to be a photographer today. Now in its tenth season, Gem explores reflections on criticism, starting out, mental health, politics and success with guests like Antwuan Sargent, Catherine Opie, Farah Al Qasimi, Carmen Winant, Charlotte Cotton, Quil Lemons, Brea Souders and Laia Abril.
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Sat 31 Jan, 4 – 5:15pm
Full-day tickets are available, along with half-day tickets covering either the first two events or the last two events in the programme.
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no. 236848.