FALLING by Gabby Laurent Photo Collection

About the productJapanese

A collection of works by UK-based photographer Gabby Laurent. A fall from grace, alling asleep, falling pregnant, falling in line, falling apart - the verb "fall" refers to actions repeated throughout our lives, comical and tragic at the same time, full of loss and willful resignation. Reflecting personal situations of bereavement and the birth of life, the artist's "falling" dances are spaces for introspection, in which she repeatedly surrenders to gravity, creating a visual space for contemplation of time, fate and circumstances.

What does it mean to fall? The artist uses idiomatic expressions that suggest a kind of failure, a lack of control and composure that is generally considered unfeminine or impolite. Using the visual language of feminist and performative art, the artist explores the abandonment of control and the acceptance of fate. However, a deeper reading of the work reveals contradictory elements. If the fall is essentially accidental, then the disruptive and purposeful performance captures not a loss of control but rather a moment of spontaneous self-control over one's actions.

One arresting sequence sees the artist, in her late stages of pregnancy, sprinting precariously from the starting blocks; other moments are more mundane, like a slip of a sock falling down the stairs or a powerful tumble off her bike; other, more subtle moments see the artist in complete free fall, her body suspended in the grain and blur of photography, free from the background. The various moments and gestures, rewound, repeated or cancelled out in the intermittent, disorganised sequence, invite us to consider our own relationship to the multiplicity of experiences that surge and elicit responses in our daily lives – a fluctuating array of emotions and psychological states reminiscent of Eadweard Muybridge’s sequence photographs. Each gesture elicits the same gasp we get when we see a stranger collapse in the street. There is a defiant attitude in the artist, who is not merely playing out his failures comically, but who finally stands up, dusts himself off and picks himself up.

A fall from grace, falling asleep, falling pregnant, falling in line or falling apart: falling is an act both comic and tragic, full of loss and wilful abandon, an act repeated throughout our lives. Reflecting on personal situations of bereavement and new life, Gabby Laurent's performed choreography of falling is a space for self-reflection, her allowing body to repeatedly give way to gravity and create a visual space to contemplate time, fate and circumstance.

What is it to fall? The idiomatic vocabulary Laurent draws on suggests a failure of some kind, a lack of control and composure, which we are led to believe is unwomanly and unbecoming. Drawing on the visual language of feminist and performative art practices, Falling explores an abandoning of self-control and embracing of fate. However, dig deeper and discover we there is a contradictory element to Laurent's images; for if falling is essentially accidental, then Laurent's subversive and intentional performances capture a moment of control, rather than the loss of it.

There is a striking sequence of photographs featuring the artist precariously rising from a set of starting blocks whilst heavily pregnant. There are the ubiquitous slipping socks on the stairs, and the dramatic fall from a bicycle. Other, smaller moments capture Laurent's body in pure free-fall, suspended within a photographic web of grain and blur, liberated from the landscape. Different moments and gestures are reversed, intermeshed, repeated or contradicted within the staccato, broken sequences of the book, inviting us to consider our relationship to the different daily experiences that wash over us and elicit reactions ? a flickering, Muybridge-esque process of emotions and states of mind. Each gesture elicits the same viewer response ? the sharp draw of breath when we witness a stranger fall in the street. But more than simply comical acts of failure, Laurent's work equally represents a gesture of defiance, as the artist inevitably picks herself up and dusts herself off.

Product Information

release date Available now

Part numberGPHT12073W-9781912719273

Specification softcover／144 pages／155 x 232 mm

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