You are cordially invited to In The Shadow Of… an exhibition by performance artist Kris Canavan. Commissioned by Abingdon Studios; supported by Aunty Social and Blackpool Film Festival.

This exhibition explores the body as both site and subject through film archive, photography, and mixed media, drawing on Canavan’s visceral performance work and its self-expressive, experimental and profound social and political implications.

Performance and live art have long been crucial platforms for exploring body politics, queer activism, and social commentary. From the 1960s onwards, artists have used their bodies as vehicles for challenging societal norms, reclaiming autonomy, and resisting oppression. This lineage of radical art is essential in addressing issues of power, desire, deviance, and marginalisation—particularly within the realms of kink and fetish culture, where the body becomes a medium for confronting taboos and redefining boundaries of identity and expression.

Kris Canavan’s work pushes these themes to their rawest extremes. With performances that straddle pain, endurance, and vulnerability, Canavan exposes the body’s limits and its potential as a site for queer resistance and transformation. Their interventions engage with both personal and political struggle, echoing the works of other groundbreaking artists in the canon of performance art.

This exhibition features a significant loan from the artist Stuart Brisley, a seminal figure in British performance art. Brisley’s Arbeit Macht Frei (1972) is a powerful meditation on labour, violence, and the body as a site of protest. Like Canavan’s practice, Brisley’s work explores themes of endurance, suffering, and the politics of survival. The presence of this iconic piece alongside Canavan’s work creates a compelling dialogue between two generations of artists committed to pushing the boundaries of bodily expression and its capacity to confront authority.

Film and archive footage play a vital role in capturing the fleeting, temporal nature of performance art. By preserving these interventions, we’re reminded of the transient power of live art and the importance of documenting the body in motion, particularly when it is pushed beyond comfort or convention. In the Shadow Of…, becomes not just a record but a witness and mediation to these transformative, sometimes extreme, acts, allowing them to resonate long after the moment has passed.

Abingdon Studios is celebrating 10 years of flagship studio, workspace and project space provision in Blackpool. Our programme of exhibitions and events are supported through Arts Council England project grant funding 2024/25.

*Exhibition will run during BFF (opening times and BFF Volunteer schedule to be confirmed) and thereafter until 20th November (by appointment via [email protected] and or Instagram @abingdonstudios_projectspace)