Fondazione Memmo is pleased to present Soft You, the first institutional exhibition in Rome by Anthea Hamilton (Lon don, 1978). Hamilton's practice lies at the intersection of installation, sculpture, film, and performance, reimagining visual con tent from our dominant culture through a subjective lens that reshapes perceptions. With her immersive installations and environments, the artist presents a reality where gender roles, sexuality, domestic life, and diverse cultural traditions are explored as fluid and ever-evolving concepts. Soft You, taken from the last monologue by Othello, in Shake speare, reframes three cardinal points in Hamilton’s research: the Shakespearian’s protagonist, the city of Rome and the artist’s own practice. Starting from Othello: A Play, her stage performance created in collaboration with Delphine Gaborit for the artistic center De Singel (Antwerp) in 2024, Hamilton’s exhibition pushes the performative possibilities of her sculp tural and installation-based research. Hamilton’s work draws from autobiographical sources, but it is not grounded in personal history. Instead, the artist weaves together visual and cultural patterns to move beyond indi vidual experience, engaging with collective narratives and shared histories. For her, the influence of Shakespeare and Rome as ‘cultural pillars’ presents them as iconic archetypes, offering a visual language that transcends historical eras. In Soft You, Hamilton revisits her leg shapes, an early leitmo tif, placed in dialogue with Rome. Whether materialised as sculpture or incorporated as a decorative element, this mo tif becomes part of the exhibition space, transforming into a frieze or a three-dimensional object. Echoing the essential nature of ancient Roman numeration, the leg pattern evolves into a language of its own. With this exhibition, Hamilton is seeking to ‘return to zero’ a marker of a time before and after, by linking Othello, Rome and her own artistic practice. The new work engages with an array of visual references, employing an associative ap proach that blends design history, architecture, and fashion. In doing so, a variant is formed. Soft You, features a collaboration with Alice Rivalta on a mo saic created using the Rankaku technique - an ancient Japa nese inlay method that employs quail eggs to decorate small and precious objects such as jewellery. Hamilton applies this technique to a writing desk, bound with a Shibari rope and designed in partnership with Pietroarco Franchetti. Also fea tured is a series of metal screens that reference architecture, playing with light through their reflecting surface; framed collaged stills from the documentation of Othello: A Play, shot by Tanguy Poujol; a collaboration with scent designer Ezra-Lloyd Jackson, Creative Director of deya; and textile sculptures. These works, drawing from disparate eras and ge ographies, enable the artist to create a hybrid lexicon, where elements blend seamlessly.
BIOGRAPHY ANTHEA HAMILTON Anthea Hamilton (b. 1978, London) lives and works in Lon don. She was a finalist for the Turner Prize in 2016. Recent solo exhibitions include: “Othello: A Play”, De Singel, Antwerp (2024); “cold, cold heart”, kaufmann repetto, Milan (2022); “The Pillow Book”, O’Flaherty’s, New York (2022); “Mash Up”, M HKA – Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, Antwerp (2022); “Anthea Hamilton: The Prude”, Thomas Dane Gallery, London (2019); Volcano Extravaganza 2019 – DEATH, Fiorucci Art Trust, Stromboli (2019); “The New Life”, Secession, Vienna (2018); “The Squash”, Tate Britain, London (2018); “A is for… and, am, anxious, apple, adore…”, kaufmann repetto, Milan (2018). Her work has also been featured in the travelling exhibition “British Art Show 8” and in numerous international contexts, including the Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin (with Nicholas Byrne), the 13th Lyon Biennale, and the 1st Gwangju Biennale. Recent group exhibitions include: “Paraventi: Folding Screens from the 17th to 21st Century”, Fondazione Prada, Milan (2023); “Radical Landscapes”, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool (2022); “The Paradox of Stillness: Art, Object, and Performance”, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2021); “May You Live In Interesting Times”, 58th Venice Biennale (2019); “Get up, stand up now”, Somerset House, London (2019).
