Surely we all can love?
Why is love only reserved for some if it is universal? As part of his residency at RAW Material Company Rory Pilgrim will give a talk reflecting upon the relationship between sexuality, religion and political activism. As important parts of his own life as a son of a church minister and work as an artist, Pilgrim will in particular focus on the role that words play in creating conflict between these different forces. When the rigidity of words in religious scriptures, laws and regarding sexual minorities create barriers, Pilgrim asks how these words and doctrines can be changed, challenged and transformed to find commonality? In his past work Pilgrim explores how ‘an absent voice’ must be heard and visibly expressed. Even through the complexity of history and long fight for rights globally, surely words like ‘love’, ‘care’, and even ‘hope’ are still important to all of us?
Working with live performance, installation and film, Pilgrim uses music as a vital way to bring people together to listen to one another as a force for empowerment, action and change. Over the last few years Pilgrim has engaged with a diverse range of people including teenagers, the unemployed, activists and religious figures whom he has collaborated with. Past work includes ‘Love in Uganda’ which focused on the initial silence of the British Anglican Church’s to act upon the Anti Homosexuality Bill in Uganda. Pilgrim will also introduce his current research in Senegal concerning the relationship between nature, sexuality, words and the body.
Rory Pilgrim (1988, Bristol UK) graduated from Chelsea College of Art London between 2005 - 2008 and later participated at De Ateliers residency programme in Amsterdam from 2008-2010. Pilgrim has exhibited internationally including Site Gallery Sheffield, UK (2015), SIC Raum für Kunst, Luzern, (2014), Art Liste 18 Basel (2013), ARCO Madrid (2012) Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam (2011) and Witte de With, Rotterdam (2010). In 2012 he was commissioned to orchestrate the official re-opening ceremony of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam with a large scale performance broadcast for national television.