Ruth Beraha / Jonny Briggs – Dad Jokes

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Origins, relationship with parents, the human ambiguity of the evil, irony and lies. Those listed are just some of the themes touched in the works of Ruth Beraha (Italy, 1986) and Jonny Briggs (UK, 1985) exhibited as part of the project “Dad Jokes”.
For the occasion, Jonny Briggs presents “Prayer”, a new installation that analyzes the relationship between the artist and his paternal ancestors. The male line of succession in this work is ridiculed by the artist through the installation of a hammer at the height of his grandfather’s nose, as a direct reference to the world of fairy tales but also to stereotyped masculine education. The work, deliberately installed at the height of the artist’s face in the act of prayer, was presented for the first time in London in January this year, within Photo 50, curated by Tim Clark .

Ruth Beraha exhibits instead a selection of works from 2018 catalogued by the artist as “self-portraits”. For example, a series of baseball bats made of blown Murano glass make up the installation “Run Home (Self-portrait)”. In the work the tactile sensuality of the material contrasts with a potential violence carried out or suffered, becoming part of the artist’s research on human ambiguities, especially related to the sphere of evil. In “Io non posso entrare (autoritratto)”, on the other hand, the artist imagines the possibility of the return of racial segregations within our society, exposing a mirroring object on the gallery door that carries an odious message on itself.