Imran Perretta at the Whitworth
Imran Perretta at the Whitworth
-with support from the Friends
Imran Perretta at the Whitworth
Imran Perretta at the Whitworth
-with support from the Friends
Starting on May 19th, you have the opportunity to see a short double screen video installation at the Whitworth Art Gallery.
Take it!
The work, the destructors, by Imran Perreta, a young artist, born in East London, to a Bangladeshi mother and an Italian father, is disturbing, as its title suggests it might be. It is also reflective, melancholic, lyrical and thought provoking. Why the cropping that prevents us from seeing fully the young men who are the film’s protagonists? Why the rhythmic sound track, almost, but not quite a heart-beat, that connects the three monologues - a violent encounter on a bus, the experience of being surveilled and the failure of the NHS to offer care for a terminally ill relative? Why the uncanny effects, liquid and gas entering the building in which the action is taking place?
It is part of the richness of this short work that the search for answers to these, and other, questions, take us on a journey through both personal and wider cultural histories, time past and time present, the world out there and the world in here.
The Destructors was the title of a short story by Graham Greene, written in 1954, 9 years after WW2 and set in a London where the effects of the Blitz were still evident. A gang of boys, not criminals, bound by the rituals and codes of the gang, are seen as, and come to see themselves as “other” to an earlier generation and to a culture to which they can never belong.
Perretta read the story at school at around the time the Twin Towers were destroyed and the War on Terror began. He was stopped and searched that year and began to reflect on how power is played out at many levels, in one’s own body and in how that body is seen and represented by others. The destructors is a part of that process:
“We have become so accustomed to seeing black and brown deaths on television and to seeing certain bodies treated with a certain sort of callousness and coldness by the camera. So for me it is how you can show and allude to violence and conflict without actually having to show its real-life effects? How to talk about the things we’ve endured without having to further endure them, that is part of the mission, the political strategy of the work.” (Interview with Imran Perretta, Louisa Buck in the Art Newspaper, March 13th 2020.)
We are incredibly proud that the showing of Imran Perretta’s the destructors at the Whitworth Art Gallery has been made possible by a generous donation from the Friends of the Whitworth. If you would like to join the Friends and support the gallery you can find more information here: https://www.friendsofthewhitworth.org.uk/Article/Membership
You can book your ticket to see Imran Perretta’s the destructors at the Whitworth Art Gallery here: https://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/currentexhibitions/imranperretta/
If you would also like to read Graham Greene’s story follow this link: https://www.shortstoryproject.com/story/the-destructors/
Starting on May 19th, you have the opportunity to see a short double screen video installation at the Whitworth Art Gallery.
Take it!
The work, the destructors, by Imran Perreta, a young artist, born in East London, to a Bangladeshi mother and an Italian father, is disturbing, as its title suggests it might be. It is also reflective, melancholic, lyrical and thought provoking. Why the cropping that prevents us from seeing fully the young men who are the film’s protagonists? Why the rhythmic sound track, almost, but not quite a heart-beat, that connects the three monologues - a violent encounter on a bus, the experience of being surveilled and the failure of the NHS to offer care for a terminally ill relative? Why the uncanny effects, liquid and gas entering the building in which the action is taking place?
It is part of the richness of this short work that the search for answers to these, and other, questions, take us on a journey through both personal and wider cultural histories, time past and time present, the world out there and the world in here.
The Destructors was the title of a short story by Graham Greene, written in 1954, 9 years after WW2 and set in a London where the effects of the Blitz were still evident. A gang of boys, not criminals, bound by the rituals and codes of the gang, are seen as, and come to see themselves as “other” to an earlier generation and to a culture to which they can never belong.
Perretta read the story at school at around the time the Twin Towers were destroyed and the War on Terror began. He was stopped and searched that year and began to reflect on how power is played out at many levels, in one’s own body and in how that body is seen and represented by others. The destructors is a part of that process:
“We have become so accustomed to seeing black and brown deaths on television and to seeing certain bodies treated with a certain sort of callousness and coldness by the camera. So for me it is how you can show and allude to violence and conflict without actually having to show its real-life effects? How to talk about the things we’ve endured without having to further endure them, that is part of the mission, the political strategy of the work.” (Interview with Imran Perretta, Louisa Buck in the Art Newspaper, March 13th 2020.)
We are incredibly proud that the showing of Imran Perretta’s the destructors at the Whitworth Art Gallery has been made possible by a generous donation from the Friends of the Whitworth. If you would like to join the Friends and support the gallery you can find more information here: https://www.friendsofthewhitworth.org.uk/Article/Membership
You can book your ticket to see Imran Perretta’s the destructors at the Whitworth Art Gallery here: https://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/currentexhibitions/imranperretta/
If you would also like to read Graham Greene’s story follow this link: https://www.shortstoryproject.com/story/the-destructors/
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