Catherine Thomas

The work of this British artist explores the relationships between aesthetics, gender and desire. Using her own nude body, Stehli restages iconic images from recent moments of art history and popular culture in order to draw attention to relationships of power, where objectification, agency and pleasure commingle. Her work often goes against the grain of discourses surrounding photographic representation. Her exhibition at the Contemporary Art Gallery will include photographic works from two recent series. Though her references are not explicit, these works carry clear inferences to early work of Vancouver artist, Jeff Wall, which Stehli takes indirections that are distinctly at odds with the ways in which Wall’s work has been received within local practices. 

### Biography

Born in 1961, Jemima Stehli lives and works in London. She has had solo exhibitions at Lisson Gallery, London (2003); ARTRA, Milan (2001); Chisenhale Gallery, London (2000); Artlab, Imperial College, London (2000) and has participated in numerous group exhibitions in Europe. Jemima Stehli is represented by Lisson Gallery in London

Guest Curated by Catherine Thomas

Essay: "What is your premise?," Catherine Thomas

A photograph of an interior photo studio. Most of the image is obscured by an indiscernible blurred shape in the foreground. 

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Several large-sized photographs are installed on a gallery wall. Those photographs show a naked woman posing in the middle of an artist studio.

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Large-sized photographs are installed on the gallery walls. Four photographs visible in this image all show blurred images of a person dancing with a piece of red-coloured fabric. 

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02-JemimaStehli-2003.jpeg

Two large-sized photographs are installed on a gallery wall. Both photographs show a naked woman posing in the middle of an artist studio. One image shows the person lying down on the floor.

thumbnail_03-JemimaStehli-2003.jpeg

03-JemimaStehli-2003.jpeg

Large-sized photographs are installed on the gallery walls. Three photographs visible in this image all show blurred images of a person dancing with a piece of red-coloured fabric. 

Catherine Thomas

Exhibitions