OUT OF THE SHADOWS is an evening inspired by the artist Penny Slinger as we explore her work through through films, sound performances and discussions. The event is curated by Dee Sada and Adam Hamish Haggerty.

SCREENING: PENNY SLINGER - OUT OF THE SHADOWS DIR. RICHARD KOVITCH (2017)
The art and the life of Penelope Slinger (b.1947 London) are inextricably interwoven. She is a multidisciplinary artist who has always pushed the boundaries of self-expression through collage, drawings, photography, audio, theatre, film and video. She has exhibited her work all over the world and currently resides in California.

“Penny Slinger – Out Of The Shadows” is the incredible, untold story of the British artist Penny Slinger and the traumatic events that led to the creation of her masterpiece, the 1977 photo-romance, ‘An Exorcism’.

Coming-of-age against a back drop of post-war austerity and the explosion of colour that characterized the 1960s counter-culture in London, Penny Slinger embraced her generation’s quest for personal freedom and sexual liberation, and channeled these desires into her ground-breaking collages and sculptures. So powerful was her vision that 45 years later, her work is still influencing contemporary artists.

“I wanted to create art that reflected a state of mind,” she explains. “To be my own muse.” To achieve this, Penny Slinger resuscitated Surrealism, instilling it with a radical, feminine perspective that led Rolling Stone to declare about her first book, ‘50% The Visible Woman’ (1971) -“This is a major work – surely to become as ubiquitous as Sergeant Pepper in the culture.” As the respected curator and academic Anke Kempkes observes, "Penny Slinger could have become very, very famous." History played out differently though and by the 1980s Penny Slinger had disappeared.

Richard Kovitch’s film documents Penny Slinger’s life during this intense period of creativity and considers the relevance of her work to subsequent generations. From the grey suburbs of Surrey, via the Kings Road art scene of Swinging London, all the way to the galleries of Los Angeles, New York and Tokyo, this is a portrait of an artist expressing herself so definitively, we gain both fresh insight into the 1960s counter-culture and expose how art history is officially recorded.

RICHARD KOVITCH - Q&A WITH ADAM HAMISH HAGGERTY
Richard Kovitch is an Award Winning director and writer whose clients include the BBC and Channel 4. His non-fiction have been published by 3AM Magazine and Gorse Journal. 'Penny Slinger: Out Of The Shadows' is his debut documentary feature. 

Adam Hamish Haggerty is a documentary filmmaker whose feature length documentary, Canvey Island Football Club is currently in post production. He has worked with Oscar-nominated director Ashvin Kumar, MTV Networks and Lionsgate and is creative director at socially conscious multimedia company, Tree Tunnel.

LIVE PERFORMANCE: PSYCHOLOGICAL STRATEGY BOARD
Psychological Strategy Board is the work of Jonny Maybury and Paul Snowdown (Time Attendant), an experimental collective based in South London. After a chance hearing of their music on BBC Radio 3’s‘Late Junction’, they were approached by Richard Kovitch to record a series of tracks inspired by Penny Sllinger’s art for the film. The result was 17 tracks of astonishing, often indescribable electronic music, that expand upon the themes of Penny Slinger’s art and give ‘Out Of The Shadows’ an utterly incredible atmosphere. The original soundtrack is released on Front&Follow Records.

LIVE PERFORMANCE: DEE SADA & KOICHI YAMANOHA
Dee Sada is a curator and musician of Indian heritage. She was born in Kuwait and grew up in the Middle East and the UK. Dee has lived in Bow, London for the last 10 years. She is a multi-instrumentalist and has released music with An Experiment On A Bird in the Air Pump and experimental duo, Blue On Blue. Dee is also a performer in ORAL ORAL.

London-based artist Koichi Yamanoha has been operating under the guise of Grimm Grimm since 2013. The project is an outlet for his fragile, otherworldly forays into baroque folk and electroacoustic oddities. Born in Tokyo, Yamanoha's first solo record, 'Kazega Fuitara Sayonara’, was released in late 2014 via Charlotte Marionneau and Kevin Shields’ Pickpocket Records. This was followed up with his debut album, Hazy Eyes Maybe, on ATP Recordings in 2015. His sophomore album, Cliffhanger, has been in the process of development since, capturing the intimate confessions which have made Yamanoha's live performances so tender and intense.