Originally commissioned for the theatre, by Sadler’s Wells, the work is partly self-portrait made of film quotes, and partly a reflection on the intersection of popular culture and identity politics. Taking quotes from characters and films that have taken residence in the artists’s mind and body and physically, projecting the seductiveness of the violence, racism and misogyny from the source material. The live performance is a prelude to Hetain’s recent and ongoing films, which respond by making cultural propositions - rewriting power dynamics and representation within the familiar immersive worlds of cinema.
Hetain Patel is the winner of the 2019 Film London Jarman Award. He is a visual artist working across film, photography, sculpture and live performance in galleries, theatres and online. Working collaboratively with artists across disciplines, and with family members and non professionals, Patel enjoys working across multiple languages, culturally and artistically. In recent years Patel has done Bruce Lee impersonations on stage at the Royal Opera House, completed commissions for Tate Modern and Sadler’s Wells, London, and made a working class Transformer robot from an old Ford Fiesta, with his dad. He designed part of a mini golf course for the Venice Biennale, and has created a number of multi lingual dance theatre productions, including a commission for Candoco Dance Company which continues to tour internationally. In 2013 Patel was invited to do a TED talk, which has since had close to 3 million hits, adding to a total of 48 million views of his videos and performances online. |
Hetain Patel, American Boy (2014)
