South, London
Michelle Williams Gamaker
Strange Evidence
Matt's GalleryMatt's Gallery is pleased to present Strange Evidence, a new film and installation by Michelle Williams Gamaker. Strange Evidence focuses on 1930s screen star and Academy Award nominee Merle Oberon, who kept her mixed Sri Lankan, Indian and British heritage secret to protect her industry status, passing as white until her death in 1979. Under the aegis of Alexander Korda's London Films, as a contracted star she became its resident so-called "exotic" playing stereotypical roles. Together with the Studios, Merle falsified her past claiming she was born in Tasmania to British parents. She also controlled how she was photographed, relying on make-up, lighting, dermabrasion and skin-bleaching procedures, which caused cosmetic poisoning and allergic reactions. Williams Gamaker's project sensitively approaches Oberon's story, exploring self-censorship, racial stigma and trauma, looking with nuance at complex decisions shaped by racial prejudice and restrictive conditions of labour, which still impact screen artists today. Included in the exhibition is the artist's BFI-commissioned short Oberon (2023), which revisits the potential casting of the actor for British Directors Powell and Pressburger's film The Red Shoes (1951). Strange Evidence extends this project and sees Williams Gamaker expand her growing cast of fictional allies of 20th Century film. A new moving image work is being developed in phases. During this exhibition the gallery becomes a hybrid installation/working film studio, with the set of this new film serving as focal point of the exhibition. The installation features sections of the film already produced. These color sequences explore the painful dermabrasion treatments Oberon underwent to minimize facial scars. Drawing on Body Horror genre films these scenes reveal graphic transformations of the physical body. In counterpoint to this in scenes filmed in a Film Noir-aesthetic during the exhibition, to be graded black and white in post-production, Williams Gamaker attempts to psychoanalyze Oberon. In the privacy of the Analyst's consulting room, anxieties, fantasies and the symbolic can be voiced. The capacity for protagonists to speak back is an integral part of the artist's practice. Strange Evidence is the first part in a new phase of Williams Gamaker's work in Fictional Healing, following her previous series in Fictional Activism and Fictional Revenge. It completes Williams Gamaker's Critical Affection trilogy (2021-2026), which includes The Bang Straws (2021) and Thieves (2023). Strange Evidence is commissioned and produced by Matt's Gallery, London and Offline, Glasgow. It is supported by Cockayne Grants for the Arts, a Donor Advised Fund, held at The Prism Charitable Trust and the National Lottery through Creative Scotland. Additional support from The British Academy, Kingston University, Goldsmiths University of London, The Bryan Robertson Trust and Associate Producer John Cavanagh. Matt's Gallery is supported by Arts Council England.