Hannah Perry: GUSH, Somerset House Exhibitions, Autumn Season

Hannah Perry returns to her native shores for her first solo UK show since 2015. GUSH, a highlight of the Somerset House exhibitions programme, is a poignant mix of film, sound and large-scale dynamic sculpture, through which the Chester-born artist explores mental and emotional health in the hyper-connected chaos of today’s society.

The centrepiece of GUSH is an immersive film, created using a 360° custom-rigged camera that Perry built herself. It’s the first of her works to directly engage with the recent suicide of her best friend and collaborator Peter Morris. Through images of contorting and shifting bodies and fragmentary pieces of spoken word, the installation explores the impact of grief and trauma on mental and emotional stability. Composers Mica Levi and Coby Sey, along with the London Contemporary Orchestra, provide an original instrumental score to echo the rhythms and repetitions of the visual elements of the piece.

Elsewhere in the exhibition will be Rage Fluids, a pulsating audio sculpture which distorts the viewer's interpretation of reality and the self, and a body of new work, including a site-specific hydraulic sculpture which explores ideas of tenderness, violence and intimacy

On 5 October Perry will also premiere a new performance piece created especially for the exhibition, combining movement choreographed by the artist, orchestral live music, and spoken word.

GUSH forms part of an exciting autumn season at Somerset House, which also includes Good Grief, Charlie Brown!, a celebration of the Peanuts' enduring legacy.