Nadia Hebson: Gravidity & Parity &
Solo Commission for Exploding Collage: Nadia Hebson, Linder, Ursula Mayer, Hatton Gallery, 29th September 2018 – 14th January 2019
Gravidity & Parity & is a new commission by Nadia Hebson which explores clothing and apparel as instinctive forms of collage, an idea which the artist approaches through an implicitly feminist lens. The recuperation of less-considered artists work is an important part of Hebson’s practice, and in this case, the paintings of Surrealist artist and educator Marion Adnams (1898-1995) serve as the starting point.
Here Hebson alludes to some of Adnams most singular images: a series of paintings depicting female mannequins assembled from folded paper. Two such works by Adnams can be seen within the installation: The Living Tree (1939), and Alter Ego (c.1940). These works correspond to certain aspects of Hebson’s own practice, which includes three- dimensional objects made of cut, folded and gessoed paper, and wall prints that surround the viewer, expanding collage techniques into immersive scales and formats.
This newly commissioned work reflects on how avant-garde women like Adnams have engaged with costume and dress as sites for creative expression, autobiography, political agency and non-verbal communication. Crucially, it is also grounded in the consideration of creative female friendships, and how these can be made tangible in order to counteract the tendency for such ephemeral connections to become or remain invisible. It has been suggested that Adnams had a friendship with well known British Surrealist Eileen Agar.
The commission features a new collaborative work with artist Ailish Treanor, Hot Pins, and further work realised through friendships with Sophie Buxton, Tess Denman-Cleaver, Anna MacRae, Sophie Soobramanien and Heather Reid. The work of Winifred Knights (1899-1947) and Christina Ramberg (1946-1995) – two women painters whose expanded legacies Hebson has worked closely with in the last ten years, and who she conceives of as fictional mentors – provides the lens through which she pays attention to the work of Adnams, and the possibility of autobiographical expression.
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