Nine Nectarines and Other Porcelain

01/06/2019 – 04/08/2019

A first institutional solo exhibition by Molly Palmer

‘Nine Nectarines and Other Porcelain’ spoke to the audience about different registers of reality nested within the real. This could be in relation to different species and natural perspectives, but also the perspectives of hidden neurological difference, such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia or bipolar.

The gallery is divided by a physical membrane allowing two contrasting halves to sit side-by-side, permeating into each other. On one side, an ambitious film was presented, while in the other half of the gallery, sculptural forms relating to Egyptian funerary forms and bodily mechanisms were displayed.

The title of the exhibition is taken from a poem by Marianne Moore, while the work itself references Palmer’s research into the history of medicine undertaken at Wellcome Trust’s library. The focus of this research was on magic as a technology of self-actualisation, looking at cultures within which magic was interwoven with science and medicine. Ritual and symbolism are utilised to reinforce cycles of wellness and create a balancing principle.