CONGREGATION

Es Devlin unveiled CONGREGATION, a new large-scale installation she has created in partnership with UK for UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, at St Mary Le Strand from during October 2024. The work, curated by Ekow Eshun, has been developed in collaboration with King’s College London in partnership with The Courtauld.  

Over four months, Es created large scale chalk and charcoal portraits of 50 Londoners who have experienced forced displacement from their homelands. The drawings were then presented as a monumental projection-mapped tiered structure within the eighteenth-century church of St Mary Le Strand adjacent to The Courtauld and Somerset House. The sculptural collective portrait was accompanied by incredible choral performances outside the church at dusk each evening.

CONGREGATION has been made possible with the generous support of Bloomberg Philanthropies, Stage One, VYV, 4Wall, Polyphonia, Treatment Studio, Ruth Hogben, Instagram, 180 Studios, Somerset House and The City of Westminster.

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