Byzantia Harlow:
From the same source I have not taken
6th April – 24th May 2018
The exhibition centres around faith, trust, coercion and the gap between real experience and artificial effect, and whether the constructed collective experience can be as meaningful as a genuine encounter. In her research Harlow has spoken to people from various spiritual groups - including psychedelic societies, religious groups, spiritual healers and ex members of what some refer to as ‘cults’. She has experienced the recruitment efforts of various groups as well as continuing to explore her own long-term personal interest in alternative societies, groups exploring the spiritual or supernatural and healing practices. Having experienced many occurrences that could be attributed to the ‘supernatural’ at a young age, this has always been of interest to Harlow.
About the exhibition
Harlow is interested in artworks as prompts for interactions, rather than operating solely as objects. She believes there is a performer/audience dyad that exists in art where the audience want to experience the effects on offer and are willingly fooled into a complicit deceit with the artist, like spectators at a magic show enjoying not knowing how they are being tricked. Centering on the interchange between true experience and embellished recollection, Harlow is interested in the gap between source and sample, re-assembling these fissures to create veneers of truth – where the effigies may have become more meaningful than the originals.