Carter Tam

29th Nov - 2nd Dec 2022

Chelsea College Of Arts - Room B217

Private View - Nov 29th from 5pm

Trigger Warning/Sourcing: This exhibition includes a dead animal which is depicted briefly in this video and images below, the pigeon was collected ethically, found already dead near Old Street Tube Station in London in 2022, whilst being invigilated by a squawking Crow.

Chelsea College Of Arts is pleased to present DISRUPT, a collective exhibition aimed to subvert perceptions of nature, animals, and fashion through destruction. Gathered here in room B217 is an atmosphere which acts as a disruption from your daily scheduling to present works that rebel against conformist attitudes of creation. Underpinning the works is the dismantling and questioning of dichotomies from active to passive participation and viewership, nature/culture, and destruction/creation.

As you enter the room starting left, we are presented with a domestic installation room by Georgie Halsam. Georgie’s installation includes reconstructions of shattered chinaware feebly held together by duct tape in a quasi-home setting. The process of destruction is integral to her work as the viewer is provided an allowance to tear away pieces of her paintings and staple them on the wall, experiencing the uneasy catharsis involved in destructing in order to create, resulting in the birth of a collaborative creation between the audience and artist; a participatory performance piece.   

Rotating around the room in the second section, we encounter the first garment rack adorned by Kaiya Costello-Ross’ creations and flooring which evokes the crunches of a forest blanketed with leaves.  With red accents on a pure white garment, Kaiya’s aesthetic is inspired by the imagery of Evelyn Bencicova and a passion for 80s/90s horror films. The vivid red makes itself heard set upon a deep forest green like a splash of blood. This is preliminary to her upcoming film work building on “The Snow Queen”. 

The atmosphere is held together by Muriel Cayon. Completing the room culminating in an immersive experience, Muriel’s soundscape brings the viewer into a trance. Muriel has a passion for animals, previously working with dogs undergoing therapy. Her practice encompasses photography as we look through her lens not only to get an understanding of her empathetic passion for conscious beings but an understanding of her own self-discovery of her world. Her photographs are dispersed among the room.

Moving to the final rack we are presented with paintings, shirts, and other works by Carter Tam. The bird is a significant symbol in his practice as it embodies love and human projection onto them of transcendence. Carter’s work is rooted in his experience of self-discovery, trauma, and the search for love. As you wander through Chelsea’s Year 2 Fine Art show, you may spot him in the spectacle of a nude nature deity. Carter’s shirts are for sale and evoke the forms of his prior nature deity appearances in a totalizing commercialized wearable art.

Work Included