Babeworld

Babeworld’s latest site-specific installation Lost Grace Discovered evokes the 1990s cinema as a site of refuge and projection, exploring the parallels between cinematic and online spaces of collective solitude. Replete with heavy red curtains, retro patterned carpet, vintage-style film posters and discarded popcorn boxes, Forma’s 15 Bermondsey Square gallery is transformed into a nostalgic, heterotopic environment shaped by the social architecture of the picture house. Through this mise-en-scène, Babeworld considers how experiences of loneliness, escapism and emotional withdrawal become entangled with neurodivergence and chronic illness, reflecting on the ways certain public spaces can enable forms of private retreat and collective intimacy.

The installation emerges from Babeworld’s latest moving image work, When The Sky Gets Bright, commissioned by Site Gallery and developed during the collective’s residency at FormaHQ, supported by Unlimited. Following a neurodivergent young person navigating chronic illness and social alienation, the film investigates what the collective describe as “the line between being chronically online and chronically ill”, considering digital space as a complex site of survival, intimacy and alienation.

Across Lost Grace Discovered, stills from When The Sky Gets Bright are reconfigured as graphic and stylised movie posters, transforming the gallery into a fragmented portrait of the protagonist’s inner world. By employing the vernacular of the cinema, Babeworld positions their moving image practice within a wider filmic canon, drawing on the magical realism, projection and emotional intensity associated with film. In doing so, the installation explores how visual language of film allows interior experiences of isolation and longing to be projected into shared public space.

Babeworld says:

“Lost Grace Discovered is a culmination of our studio residency time at Forma, in which we’ve been experimenting with film and installation in relation to mental health and disability. Through our time at Forma, we’ve been able to think about creating work as queer disabled individuals, and how this shapes the way we work and the content that we create. We’ve been able to interrogate our wider working practices, and how to embed ourselves within an institution through the support received and the work made. The exhibition at Bermondsey Square has allowed us to bring long term ideas into fruition, whilst also gaining vital support from an institution to advance our creative practice.”

Lost Grace Discovered and Babeworld’s residency with Forma have been generously supported by Unlimited, a charity dedicated to championing the work of disabled artists. The exhibition continues Forma’s long-standing partnership with Unlimited , which has supported residencies and commissions by artists including Sophie Hoyle, Daniella Valz Gen, Jamiesha Prescod and others. Across this collaboration, Forma and Unlimited have worked together to support artists through sustained periods of development, experimentation and presentations, creating space for practices and perspectives that have historically been underrepresented within contemporary art institutions.

Antonia Shaw, Head of Programmes, Forma Arts & Media, says:

“Babeworld’s latest work, Lost Grace Discovered, approaches questions of isolation, care and belonging with extraordinary sensitivity and emotional precision. Through the installation, the collective draw compelling parallels between cinematic and online space, opening important conversations around disability, neurodivergence, chronic illness and access.

Developed during Babeworld’s residency at FormaHQ, the project has enabled the collective to realise an ambitious and deeply resonant new body of work that reflects Forma’s commitment to long-term artistic development and experimentation. We are incredibly proud to have supported this project alongside Unlimited, and of the wider partnership that has enabled Forma to support disabled artists through sustained periods of development, experimentation and public presentation over many years.”

Babeworld’s intervention is the fifth new work presented at Bermondsey Square since Forma began programming the space. Previous presentations include: Athen Kardashian & Nina Mhach Durban, Gaia Di Lorenzo & Francesca Pionati, Hannan Jones & Shamica Ruddock, and Amaal Said.

Lost Grace Discovered will be on display at Bermondsey Square with viewing access available 24/7. Babeworld’s latest film commission When The Sky Gets Bright launches at Site Gallery, Sheffield on 12 June. Bringing together a series of works exploring loneliness, burnout, and the tensions between digital and physical life, the exhibition centres the experiences of neurodivergent young people navigating an increasingly mediated world. When The Sky Gets Bright runs until 27 September.