Kira Freije: Unspeak the Chorus
Walk amongst Kira Freije’s life-sized figures within an atmospheric and emotionally charged space, where groupings suggest fragments of larger imagined narratives.
Modern Art Oxford presents Unspeak the Chorus, the Turner Prize nominated solo exhibition by British artist Kira Freije (b.1985, lives and works in London), featuring a new body of work co-commissioned with The Hepworth Wakefield, in collaboration with KINDL, Berlin.
The exhibition is Freije’s first major solo presentation in the UK, bringing together around twenty hand-welded, life-size metal figures, with the artist expanding her practice through the inclusion of animals and textiles. The resulting work transforms the Upper Gallery into an immersive and emotionally charged environment in which human and animal worlds meet.
Freije’s hand-welded metal figures, arranged in intimate groupings, suggest fragments of a story without ever resolving into a fixed narrative. United by a palpable sense of kinship, the figures appear at once connected and self-contained – celebrating, loving, grieving, guiding, resting, reaching and exhaling. While subtle interactions unfold between the sculptures, Freije deliberately leaves the scene open, inviting viewers to bring their own interpretations and emotional responses to the work.
To create her life-size sculptures, Freije casts her own hands and feet in aluminium before constructing each figure from the ground up. Welding strips of steel together in a process akin to drawing an outline in space, she builds skeletal forms that are at once delicate and robust. Faces, or fragments of faces, are cast from people close to her; fabric, found materials and hand-blown glass elements are incorporated to complete materially layered scenes that combine strength and vulnerability.
Developed in collaboration with lighting designer Matt Daw, Unspeak the Chorus responds directly to the distinctive architecture of Modern Art Oxford’s Upper Gallery, using atmospheric lighting and staging to heighten the emotional presence of the sculptures.
Please note: tickets for this exhibition can be purchased on the day of your visit at Modern Art Oxford’s Welcome Desk, or pre-booked online via eventbrite.
