Overview

Join artists Permindar Kaur and Prem Sahib in conversation with art critic Ben Luke as they discuss their concurrent exhibitions Permindar Kaur: Mirror Mirror and Prem Sahib: Doubles at Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery. Taking place within Sir John Soane’s historic home, the conversation will explore key themes in both artists’ practices, including architecture, identity, and the uncanny.

From Kaur’s reflections on childhood to Sahib’s evocations of growing up in Southall – touching on family, queerness, and place, this event will delve into how their works engage with and respond to the unique setting of Pitzhanger and its surrounding context.

Your ticket includes entry to both exhibitions. While there will be limited time to view the works after the talk, we recommend arriving early to explore the exhibitions beforehand.

About Permindar Kaur

Permindar Kaur is a sculptor and installation artist whose playful approach of using objects related to childhood, such as toys and cots, explores the territory of cultural identity, home, and belonging. These objects resemble displaced domestic belongings which have been distorted and manipulated to invoke the uncanny. They are deceptively familiar in their appearance and initially might remind the viewer of innocence, childhood, and play; belying their sinister undertones.

Since the 1990s Kaur’s practice has investigated integration and belonging, particularly cultural identity. This July and September, Kaur will join The Art House as Resident Artist, to continue her research and interest in the ‘public’ and ‘private’, and ongoing investigation to the central question in her practice: ‘where is home?’.

About Prem Sahib

Prem Sahib is an artist whose work across sculpture, sound, film, painting and installation references the architecture of public and private queer spaces, structures that shape individual and communal identities, senses of belonging, alienation and confinement. Having grown up in Southall, London, their work at Pitzhanger Manor traces personal and political histories of the area and its surroundings; its communities, conflicts, and margins. Mixing abstraction and figuration, Sahib’s “destabilised minimalism” is suggestive of the body as well as its absence, drawing attention to traces of touch and frameworks of looking.

About Ben Luke

Ben Luke is a critic and broadcaster. He is a contributing editor of The Art Newspaper, and presents its podcasts A brush with…, of which there are now more than 100 episodes, and The Week in Art, of which there are now more than 300 episodes. From 2009 to 2024 he was an art critic at the London Evening Standard. He is a regular guest on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row and Monocle 24’s The Globalist. Ben has contributed to books on artists as diverse as Phyllida Barlow, Glenn Brown, Michael Craig-Martin, Mark Dion, Matthew Krishanu, George Shaw and Jiro Takamatsu. He was selected in the Critics’ Critics section of Artforum’s Best of 2024 issue. His book, What is Art For? Contemporary artists on their influences, inspirations and disciplines, featuring 25 interviews from the A brush with… series along with new texts, is published by HENI publishing in September.

About Thursday Lates

Pitzhanger stays open until 8pm on the first Thursday of every month offering visitors an after-hours chance to view the exhibitions, and to join a wide range of events and activities, or simply enjoy a glass of something in our café/bar. Please note that some talks and events may require additional tickets so do check the website for details ahead of your visit.