Harriet Hill
London
Based in London, Harriet creates sculpture, site-specific installation and live, public art which humorously challenges the spaces we inhabit and our familiarity with the physical world that around us
Harriet Hill is based in South East London. She creates sculpture, site-specific installation and interactive live art that responds to the visceral qualities of materials, physical space and social frameworks. These may be structural, spatial, experiential or tactile. She is interested in the way these elements affect us and how they can be manipulated.
Working in a playful and dynamic way she uses evocative materials such as elastic, cardboard, felt and tape. She creates sculpture or contextual drawings that stimulate narrative through using the installation space as part of the work. By revealing or highlighting what is already there a viewer’s perception of an object and it's environment can be shifted or changed.
This methodology also applies with a more recent move into live art and the emergence of her letter costumes. Working collaboratively with performers and videographers, Harriet groups these wearable sculptures into words to make singular, resonant statements. Taking them on walkabout around streets and public spaces the letters talk to people as they go about the word and its varied meanings. These moving artworks investigate similar ideas to her other work but from a performative rather than static angle: "My installations play with the dynamic of a space, becoming alive when the viewer moves through them. Conversely, the peopled words are alive themselves and move amongst the viewers and through the space."
Harriet has an MFA Textiles from Goldsmiths 2007 and supports her practise working in art fabrication.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS/ EVENTS:
2022: PEACE CAMP: co-curated event at Beaconsfield Gallery including P.E.A.C.E Walks and 'Watchtower''
GROVING 2022 "Relic": Bury St Edmunds
HOME-ing film shown at: BORDERLINES Film Festival, Hereford and PORTOBELLO Film Festival, London
2021: HOME-ing film screening premiere at The Feminist Library, London
COMPANIONS: group show with the Feminist Library at BoxForum Gallery, Helsinki
HOME-ing: Walk in costume from London to Wales. Arts Council England funded
GROVE PROJECTS, Bury St. Edmunds: "Monument to 2020"
2019: SCULPT by Art in the Churches, North Yorkshire: site-specific sculptural installation commissioned in a rural church
TAKE BACK CONTROL, Crypt Gallery, London: Work in response to media coverage of the Brexit referendum 2016
PECKHAM FESTIVAL: Screening of PEOPLE MAKE PECKHAM
2018: TATE Exchange, London: Female filmakers in Southwark showreel
M2(at)15, APT Gallery, deptford - 'M3' letter costume
OBS Gallery, Tonbridge: Installation - 'Wall Stitch'
2017/18: P.E.C.K.H.A.M. Letter costume projects as part of Peckham Festival
2011-18: OPEN STUDIO as part of The Nunhead Art Trail: experimental interventions and studio pieces
2017: WORD PLAY, Forest Gate Arts, London: various word pieces
OBS Gallery, Tonbridge: collection of small maquettes and found objects
2016: BREAD AND JAM, London: site-specific installation 'Karzy Camo'
2015: FRESH AIR SCULPTURE, Gloucestershire
2013/14: FINALIST: National Sculpture Prize, Broomhill Art Foundation, Devon
2012: ‘HOLE IN WALL’, M2 Gallery, London: solo show - installation
2011: ASYLUM CHAPEL, Peckham, London
2008: BUSSEY BUILDING, London: sculpture and installation
FREIGHTLINERS FARM, Islington: residency and installation
‘ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MINERAL’, Deptford Arms: solo show - installation
2007: MFA GRADUATE SHOW, Goldsmiths: sculptural installation
2006: BREWERY ARTS, Cirencester: solo show of wall and sculptural work
LLOWES COURT, Hay-on-Wye: joint show
FIBRE, The Craft Centre and Design Gallery, Leeds
2005: ROYAL EXCHANGE, Manchester: solo showcase
GALANTHUS GALLERY, Herefordshire: solo show - wall pieces
WASHINGTON GALLERY, Penarth: solo show - sculptural work
CHELSEA CRAFTS FAIR 2005: sculptural furniture
UNDER CONSTRUCTION Gallery Top, Derbyshire
2004: LLANTARNAM GRANGE ARTS CENTRE, Cwmbran
THE MEADS GALLERY, Warwick University: solo showcase
2003: THE GUARDIAN HAY FESTIVAL, Hay-on-Wye: solo show
FESTIVALS AND EVENTS: WORDS
2019: INDEX Festival, Wakefield, Yorkshire Sculpture International fringe: H.O.M.E. a two day walkabout, conversations with the public and film.
HOME on the High Street, Slough: H.O.M.E., a walkabout and film as part of Marcelo Sanchez's Text Bender event
2018: H.O.M.E. as part of Southwark Refugee Week
TATE Exchange, London: Female filmakers in Southwark, showcase
2017/19: Peckham Festival: P.E.C.K.H.A.M. and “ PEOPLE MAKE PECKHAM”
COMMISSIONS AND PROJECTS:
2019: SCULPT by Art in the Churches, North Yorkshire: site-specific sculptural installation commissioned in a rural church https://www.artinthechurches.co.uk/
INDEX Festival, Wakefield, Yorkshire Sculpture International fringe: H.O.M.E. a two day walkabout, conversations with the public and film.
HOME on the High Street, Slough: H.O.M.E., a walkabout and film as part of Marcelo Sanchez's Text Bender event
2016: LADY MARGARET SCHOOL, London: cross for school entrance, commission
2011: HATCH SPACE, London: Curating project and site-specific installation
2003: HAMPTON COURT, Herefordshire: Outdoor sculptural commission
PUBLICATIONS:
2019: WORDPOWER: LANGUAGE AS MEDIUM: features "P.E.C.K.H.A.M." Published by: Library X BOOK I ISBN: 9780993175152 BOOK II ISBN: 9780993175183
THE FEMINIST TOILET: small print run and online zine featuring "Karzy Camo" and "Dry Wall"
2006: CRAFTS Magazine, March/April issue: LOOKOUT article
RESIDENCIES:
2016/17: COPELAND PARK, Peckham: experimental week residencies
2008: FREIGHTLINERS FARM, Islington
THE DEPTFORD ARMS, London: site-specific installation
QUALIFICATIONS & TRAINING:
2006-07: MFA TEXTILES, with distinction: Goldsmiths College, London
1984-87: BA Hons, FINE ART: Cardiff
1982-84: Datec Diploma, GENERAL ART & DESIGN: Bourneville, Birmingham
AWARDS:
2006: CRAFTS COUNCIL and UKTI: funded research trip to New York
2005: ARTS COUNCIL OF WALES: grant to exhibit at Chelsea Craft Fair
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND: promotion at PULSE fair
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