Overkill 03

Gabby Laurent (UK) investigates the tension between the safe and domestic and the dangerous and vulnerable. Often using herself as the subject, Laurent’s practice sits at the junction of photography and performance, drawing inspiration from feminist and performance art history.

Presented in this exhibition is her leading work from the Wearables series (2022), in which she uses handmade garments of domestic materials to blur the lines between comfort and restriction. Laurent explains: “I wanted to feel powerful and dominant. But there are also the connotations of the domestic. It is soft and domestic in the materials used, but confrontational in assembly and posture.” Her Overkill series (2024) explores societal pressures and expectations placed on women, highlighting the conflict between imposed roles and personal agency.

Both Wearables and Overkill were recently presented at the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung Museum, Munich, and are now debuting on Dutch grounds. Laurent has held solo exhibitions at Flowers Gallery, London, and Webber Gallery, London, and has exhibited internationally. Her debut monograph, Falling (2021), was published by Loose Joints.