BIO
“An artist based in London, Rebecca Lennon works across media including video, text, performance, sound and music to think about and play with the non-linear shapes and rhythms of the voice, memory and the speaking body. Exhibiting internationally, across contemporary art and experimental music platforms, radio and recently, publishing, Rebecca graduated from the Slade School of Art London MFA in 2010, and is a regular visiting lecturer at universities such as Arts University Bournemouth and Royal College of Art. Recent / upcoming group exhibitions and performances include: Kaunas Film Festival, Lithuania, 2020, Kunstraum, London 2019, David Dale Gallery, Glasgow, 2021, Cafe Oto, London, 2022, Galeria Duhttps://soundcloud.com/rebecca-lennon-476054999/dumb-2019arte Sequiera, Braga, Portugal, 2021 with solo shows at Southwark Park Galleries, London 2021, Primary, Nottingham, 2020, Almanac, Turin, Italy, 2019 and Matts Gallery, London, 2018. Rebecca featured in ‘On Care, an anthology of artists writing published by MA Bibliotheque in 2020, BBC Late Junction 2019/2020 and on a collection of artist interpretations of scores by writer and artist Salomé Voegelin released on vinyl in 2022.”
The piece Dumb was performed live in 2019 with vocal performers surrounding the audience. The performers where in all black whilst the lights in the room changed. Vocal elements are layered on top of each other as abstract observations or thought, layered and organised through rhythmic editing, creating an non-linear narrative. With her video works, the sounds and images are often bound together. So certain abstract phrases of sound accompany abstract imagery. Which are repeated. Connotations form in the participants mind. Use of coughs and sounds from the mouth used rhythmically also. Clearing of throat etc. These rhythmic interruptions she refers to as ways in which the mind organises or orders our speech. Rebecca is very interested in as she described it invisible violence, talking about Landlordism as this power dynamic where you are basically trapped but there are these friendly overtones. I’m interested in the concept of ’emotional labour’ and situations where for work we effectively have to handle behaviour that on some base human level have an issue with for the sake of continued security. Some friends I know experience this on a personal level but I have mostly experienced this in customer service and think it’s had a very negative effect on how I view myself, I believe I am a conduit of service industry and cannot unlearn this self-effacing. This negation of the self purely a sacrifice for a roof over my head or a steady stream of income. Therefore I find a lot of imagery in Lennon’s work quite powerful. She spoke about how a fisherman will take a photo smiling with a fish they have pulled away from their world. This is a really powerful image as I believe more than half the fish caught and set free die from infection due to the wounds in their mouths. That is a perfect metaphor for the lack of kindness in neo-liberal attitudes. This imagery is used in LIQUIDi
Featuring Annea Lockwood, who we spoke to last year. This vocal sounds remind me of artists like Robert Wyatt and Bjork to some extent as well as vastly different uses of ‘da’ in music. Such as George Kranz and the german band Trio. Even though their context is a lot less narrative driven. There are musical aspects to the work which Lennon claims are not something she is well versed in, stating her artistic beginnings in Film and the editing process. That editing process is very clear in these interesting constructions of thought. The repetitive structure was something she is interested by, and when answering a question related to The Fall she stated the ‘whatever sticks’ type prolificism of Mark E Smith as an influence. Mark E Smith sometimes has a very disjointed vocal delivery, as for his lyrics, they are very esoteric. I can sense a slight influence here. Lennon’s editing style and delivery kind of remind me of Scottish band Life Without Buildings to some degree and their singer, poet Sue Tompkins who repeats phrases over and over again, using that repetition to engage the listening with the phrase or the word. I found a recording but with absolutely no room and thought it was a jarring listen, but this performance adds movement and a space in which Tompkins interacts with, these factors contribute to the power of the performance.
There is more of a narrative to LIQUIDi, but this video is a great demonstration of Rebecca’s use of visual editing almost connected to the sound. So certain sounds have certain visual connotations. Passages of prose connected together through these more rhythmic repetitions expanding on lines from the main narrative.