Alberta Whittle | Commission

RESET
Alberta Whittle
October 2020 – Ongoing

RESET is a film by Alberta Whittle co-commissioned by Forma and Frieze London and recipient of the 2020 Frieze Artist Award.

Informed by the writings of queer theorist Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, the work interweaves gothic imagery, fears of contagion, xenophobia and the ensuing moral panic that often follows such anxieties. Exploring timely questions relating to personal healing and the cultivation of hope in hostile environments–such as the ensuing global pandemic or colonialism–this urgent political film strikes the balance between grief and reflection, empathy and desire. Living and working between Scotland and Barbados, Whittle’s interdisciplinary works frequently explore the African diaspora and push for the decolonisation of Western history.

Often working with multiple collaborators from composers, choreographers, writers and animators, Whittle creates a working practice that is supportive and humanising. Motivated by the desire to manifest self-compassion and collective care as key methods in battling anti-blackness, Whittle choreographs interactive installations, using film, sculpture and performance as site-specific artworks in public and private spaces.

Artist Biography
Alberta Whittle is an artist, researcher and curator. She was awarded a Turner Bursary, the Frieze Artist Award and a Henry Moore Foundation Artist Award in 2020. Alberta is a PhD candidate at Edinburgh College of Art and is a Research Associate at The University of Johannesburg. She was a RAW Academie Fellow at RAW Material in Dakar in 2018 and is the Margaret Tait Award winner for 2018/9. Alberta has exhibited and performed in various solo and group shows, including at Glasgow International (2020), Grand Union (2020), Eastside Projects (2020), DCA (2019), GoMA, Glasgow (2019), Pig Rock Bothy at the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh (2019), 13th Havana Biennale, Cuba (2019), The Tyburn Gallery, London (2019), The City Arts Centre, Edinburgh (2019), The Showroom, London (2018), National Art Gallery of the Bahamas (2018), RAW Material, Dakar (2018), FADA Gallery, Johannesburg (2018), the Apartheid Museum, Johannesburg (2017), FRAMER FRAMED, Amsterdam (2015), Goethe On Main, Johannesburg (2015), at the Johannesburg Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale, Venice (2015), and BOZAR, Brussels (2014), amongst others.

Her work has been acquired for the UK National Collections, The Scottish National Gallery Collections, Glasgow Museums Collections and The Contemporary Art Research Collection at Edinburgh College of Art amongst other private collections.

Alberta is representing Scotland at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, with a film co-commissioned by Forma and Glasgow International. Over 2021, Alberta will be sharing new work as part of Art Night, British Art Show 9, Liverpool Biennial, An infinity of traces at the Lisson Gallery, business as usual : hostile environment at Glasgow Sculpture Studios, An apology, a pill, a ritual, a resistance at Remai Modern, Right of Admission at the University of Johannesburg and A Miraculous Noise at Viborg Kunstal.