Turner Prize 2011: Hilary Lloyd
Working in film and video, Hilary Lloyd presents sound and image to the viewer in a way which challenges and undermines viewing conventions, writes Matthew Cain.
Hilary Lloyd was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, in 1964. She studied at Newcastle Polytechnic and now lives and works in London.
She was nominated for the Turner Prize 2011 for her solo show at Raven Row in London.
Lloyd works in the perennially-fashionable film and video although unlike most other artists she draws attention to the projection process, almost making the technical equipment a sculptural medium in itself.
In some cases, these projectors can obstruct the viewing process and much of her moving images themselves toy with our viewing conventions. So while one piece in this show contains barely perceptible movement, which is at first puzzling, the neighboring work is made up of a constant flickering energy on a fragmented screen.
In another, Floor 2011, the floor represented is abstracted to a disorientating degree.
Our desire for an image that is easy to read is thwarted but replaced, at least in my case, with delight at the artist’s sense of mischief.
By creating this sense of disconnection between the viewer and her work, Lloyd very much places the stress on ways of seeing as well as on what is seen.
In her show at Raven Row, the projectors and monitors were often fore-grounded and very much formed part of the work itself.
In nominating Lloyd for this show, the judges wanted to acknowledge that it represented a significant step-up for her work in terms of ambition and scale.