You Had Me In Stitches - Olly Read

You Had Me In Stitches sees the artist, Olly Read (Impious Monk), explore the malleability of the body and its dynamic relationship to the world. The exhibition positions the body as the vessel and means through which we manifest ourselves and through which we experience or relate to our environment, mediating all sense and experience.

Like a bowerbird the artist collects and accumulates their materials. Body parts — eyes, mouths, ears, noses, and hands — are cut from magazines. Bras are deconstructed into 4 parts — loops, hooks, straps, and cups. Pillows are synched, sculpted with needle and thread, and joined together. The threaded needle pierces, penetrates, joins, and binds. The making process is material-driven. Time is taken to observe how the materials interact and minimal intervention is applied once component parts have been deconstructed and collected. The abstract bodily mass of soft sculptures stands in contrast to the two-dimensional printed images.

The works in this exhibition speak to a body that is at once familiar and foreign, conveying vulnerability, unease, intimacy, and alienation. The forms in the space invite viewers to confront sensations that lie just beneath the skin, prompting a reflection on one’s own body and the fluidity of identity. With a ‘jerry-rigged’ approach to construction, the works embody precariousness, mirroring the fragility and emotional complexity of the transgender experience and the ongoing process of self-realisation.

Tickets Available @ HIVE