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On November 22nd November Penny Woolcock was joined by Modern Art Oxford’s Head of Programme and Chief Curator Emma Ridgway for an in-depth discussion about the themes and inspirations behind Woolcock’s four-decade long practice and her Modern Art Oxford exhibition Fantastic Cities (17 November 2018 – 3 March 2019).

As one of the UK’s most groundbreaking visual artists, Woolcock’s career spans film, opera and television and she is widely celebrated for her intimate and uncompromising portrayals of social inequality in cities.

We are thrilled to launch the new HENI Talks film, Penny Woolcock: Parallel Worlds. Responding to Modern Art Oxford’s exhibition Penny Woolcock: Fantastic Cities (17 November 2018 – 3 March 2019), this short film explores the life and influences of the groundbreaking artist and filmmaker.

Penny Woolcock: Parallel Worlds from HENI Talks on Vimeo.

Penny Woolcock is an artist, filmmaker and director, amongst other things. But hers is an art that is not the preserve of the gallery. Rather, Woolcock seeks to create art that contributes towards real impact in the world, exploring issues of social inequality that we encounter every day on the streets, though we may not always realise it.

Indeed, Woolcock turns her lens to the streets to expose the ‘parallel worlds’ that coexist, often imperceptibly, in daily life. Whether it be the difference in experience of taking a walk in North London on a summers evening between a middle-class resident and one of the “Cally Boyz”, of Caledonian Road, as in The Same Road is a Different Road (2018), or acting as a line of communication between rival gangs in Birmingham as in One Mile Away (2012), Woolcock seeks to tell the stories of often overlooked social groups, helping us to ‘imagine a different way of living’ together.

Read more about Modern Art Oxford exhibition Penny Woolcock: Fantastic Cities.