Jemima Stehli

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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01-JemimaStehli-2003.jpeg

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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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.

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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. 

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04-JemimaStehli-2003.jpeg

mm, Studio

The eight artists participating in *Promises* all make work that seems to be somewhere in between one thing and another, presenting a potential of continually becoming something else. For example, Chris Hanson and Hendrika Sonnenberg's *Fruit Bowls* reside somewhere between sculpture and photography, while Joe Scanlan's work, *Coffer*, is both a practical, functional object and the realization of more formally motivated ideas. Daniel Olson's short performances collected in *Philosophical Moments* puncture the film noir ambience of the video with a kind of quizzical prankishness that underscores the provisional nature of expectations, and experience. The promise of these works is in their potential for just such unexpected outcomes.

On the upper part of the galley wall, seven identical signs are attached in a row. They are black square-shaped signs. A drawing of white brief underwear is printed on each of those black signs.  

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A blue-white coloured neon sign is installed on the wall in a gallery space. The sign shows the exhibition title, PROMISES. 

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This is an installation shot of a group show titled Promises. Several two-dimensional artworks, some framed and some unframed, are mounted on the walls. 

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Several artworks are installed in a gallery space. Five framed black and white photographs are mounted on the left side wall. A wood sculpture is installed in a corner of the room. 

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A photograph depicting an open dishwashing machine is installed on a gallery wall. Below this photograph, a sculpture made of four cylindrical-shaped objects sits on the floor. 

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04-Promises-2001.jpeg

A large sculpture is installed in a gallery. The sculpture is a sealed large cardboard box placed on a piece of flat wood. Words such as Fragile and Keep Dry are written on the side of the box.

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05-Promises-2001.jpeg

In a corner of a gallery room, a CRT TV is placed on a wood coffee table. A video work is shown on that TV. A mobile storage cabinet filled with objects is placed next to the TV. 

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This is an installation shot of a gallery space. A set of three photographs are installed on the left wall. Some sculptural installations are placed in the far right corner of the room. 

Jemima Stehli

Exhibitions