A Handful of Dust, Whitechapel

A dream for photographers, a nightmare for their lenses: dust. Now the micro-menace is explored in all its photogenic glory in David Campany's upcoming exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery

Man Ray/Marcel Duchamp, 'Elevage de poussière', 1920
‘I will show you fear in a handful of dust’
T.S Eliot, The Waste Land, 1922



A response to the spiritual and cultural crisis in the interwar period, TS Eliot's dream-like five section poem The Waste Land is cited by writer-turned-curator David Campany as the source of inspiration for his upcoming exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, A Handful of Dust.

Despite desperate attempts to rid our lives, homes, studios and closets of dust, its photogenic qualities have made it the subject of many of the 12th century's most pivotal art works.

Tracing a visual journey through the 20th century via the motif of dust and dirt created by human activity, war, destruction and natural disaster, A Handful of Dust features works by more than 30 artists and photographers including Gerhard Richter, Robert Fillion and Mona Kuhn, alongside press photos and cuttings, and movie clips.

From Man Ray’s 1920 photograph of The Large Glass, a work in progress by conceptualist artist Marcel Duchamp, deliberately left to gather dust in his studio, to Walker Evans' American landscapes of the United States during the great depression, A Handful of Dust celebrates dust in all its aesthetic glory.

Expect the unexpected and prepare to decipher the unknown in the Whitechapel's upcoming multi-disciplinary exhibition.

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What A Handful of Dust, Whitechapel
Where Whitechapel Gallery, 72-78 Whitechapel High Street, London, E1 7QX | MAP
Nearest tube Aldgate East (underground)
When 07 Jun 17 – 03 Sep 17, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Price £Free
Website Click here for more information




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