In their new work for Art Now, The Ballad of St Jerome, artist Jesse Darling references the Christian fable of Saint Jerome and the lion as part of a wider exploration of personal identity, human fragility and social constraint. Sculptures and drawings made from everyday objects and pop-culture imagery, from contorted mobility canes to the figures of Batman and Icarus, raise questions about systems of control, both historic and present.
In this conversational event for a small group, participants are invited to deeply engage with the work; spend time with the objects and collectively share their immediate responses and personal interpretations. The conversation will begin with a provocation by literary and cultural theorist Sita Balani and will include reflections by the artist Jesse Darling. Sara Sassanelli, Assistant Curator of Public Programmes at Tate, will act as facilitator.
Biographies
Jesse Darling
Jesse Darling is an artist who lives and works in Berlin and London. Recent projects include solo exhibitions Support Level, Chapter, New York (2018), Armes Blanches: History is Other People, Galerie Sultana, Paris (2017) and The Great Near, Arcadia Missa, London (2016), and commissions from Volksbühne, Berlin (2018), MoMA, Warsaw (2014–16) and the Serpentine Gallery, London (2015). Jesse Darling has published texts in print and online including The Best British Poetry (Salt Publishing, 2015), Mass Effect: Art and the Internet in the 21st Century (MIT Press, 2015) and Art After the Internet (Cornerhouse Books, 2014).
Sara Sassanelli
Sara Sassanelli is Assistant Curator of Public Programmes at Tate. Within their independent curatorial practice, they are interested in the intersections between choreography, performance and sound. Their work includes various collaborations with artists, promoters and curators in clubs and galleries. They co-run projects move close at Vogue Fabrics with artists Es Morgan and Joseph Morgan Schofield and inner u with Ben Bishop and Will Coldwell. They co-ran the platform Hotline, an itinerant space for discussion, with artist Jamila Johnson-Small.
Sita Balani
Sita Balani is a lecturer in contemporary literature and culture at King's College London. In her research and teaching, she explores the relationship between imperialism and identity in contemporary Britain. Her work has appeared in Feminist Review, Boundless, Identity Theory, Open Democracy, Photoworks and the Verso blog.