Gallery 31: The Voices of A Tempest

Babeworld is composed of Ash Williams (she/her) and Ingrid Banerjee Marvin (she/her), Gabriella Davies (she/her) and Caitlin Chase (she/her). 

Babeworld seeks to create a more representative art world through the creation of art, fundraising and creating grants, and facilitation of events - for those who are marginalised in the arts. With an emphasis on collaboration and co-creation, Babeworld’s practice focuses on themes of political and societal identity, specifically disability/access, neurodivergence, sex work and race. Their interactions with the communities they create and infiltrate consists of oversharing (otherwise known as attention-seeking) on the internet and through their events - and you best believe they'd overshare at a round table, and probably also cry. Babeworld is committed to bringing their ideas and networks to institutions and organisations in the art world, whether they want to hear it or not.

Michael Ho (b.1991) is a multi-disciplinary artist, predominantly working with painting and film. Deriving from his background as an Asian immigrant in the Western context, his painting practice adopts a specific technique, in which Ho begins with pushing paint from the verso of the canvas and superimposing images on the recto. Such a laborious process serves as a parallel to his quest for duality, where elements of cultural mismatch and conflicts of identity and assimilation often convene. With a violet colour palette obscuring the concept of time, the paintings construct a fictional space of liminality, further problematising the mythical prospects of history inundated with ambiguity and ambivalence.

Michael Ho lives and works in London. He received his Diploma from the Architectural Associastion in 2019 and had his first solo presentation as part of Intra-Action at Soft Opening, London, UK, 2021. Other solo exhibitions include Tryst, Gallery Vacancy, Frieze, London 2022 and Kūnlún, at V.O Curations, London, 2021. Ho is currently included in Hollow Earth: Art, Caves & The Subterranean Imaginary, a Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition, developed in partnership with Nottingham Contemporary and in collaboration with Glucksman, Cork and RAMM, Exeter.

A—Z presents works that focus on unbuilding systems of oppressions in terms of gender and racial identities. They are interested in empowerment in deconstructing racist and sexist structures and generating alternative (hi)stories in exploring personal experiences and non-linear, re-enacted storytelling. In line with this proposition, language and other forms of expression, from the bodily to the non-descriptive, are given a platform to create new ways of thinking and working together. The emphasis is placed not only on the audiences’ relation to the works, but also how various means of presenting politically-engaged work can become an activist practice, looking at practices that align with modes of resistances, resilience and positive/alternative futures. 

Anne Duffau is a cultural producer, researcher, and founder of A—Z, an exploratory/nomadic curatorial platform. A---Z aims at opening up to audiences by sharing discursive practices in order to challenge preconceived ideas on race, gender identities and the so-called history in terms of power relationship. Anne was the interim curator at Wysing for the Polyphonic Festival 2020/2021 Editions, & a Tutor at the Royal College of Art’s Contemporary Art Practice Programme. She is part of the collective Transmissions.tv and Décalé. She produces live music under Alpha through several projects and collaborations (Décalé, MAENADS, Polisonics).