Designed to coincide with London Fashion Week 15-19 February 2019:
Hanna Moon & Joyce Ng: English as a Second Language
The Charles Russell Speechlys Terrace Room Series
Terrace Rooms | South Wing | Somerset House | Strand | London WC2R 1LA
25 January – 28 April 2019
Mon, Tue, Sat & Sun 10.00 – 18.00, Wed – Fri 11.00 – 20.00 Admission free
Photography exhibition showcasing the work of two of the most exciting photographers working in fashion today, celebrating the vitality and importance of fresh perspectives within fashion photography in our globalised and interconnected world.
Employing an otherworldly and playful approach to their practice, Hanna Moon and Joyce Ng incorporate cultural signifiers, set design and fashion to present their unique take on Western aesthetics and fashion ideals. Bringing distinct Asian perspectives to their work, they challenge the concept of ‘otherness’ and reflect upon the power fashion photography holds in shaping our perceptions of beauty, style and taste.
For English as a Second Language Moon and Ng have created two new series of photography works, responding directly to the historical setting of Somerset House.
Moon presents a dramatic reimagining of Somerset House’s neoclassical setting. She captures imagery of her two muses; Moffy, from London, and Heejin, from South Korea, in the dark of night, rebelliously ‘invading’ the site to create a series of intimate works, featuring bespoke sets and objects that reflect her personal experiences living in UK.
Joyce Ng, a rising star within today’s fashion landscape, uses street-casted models, natural environments and props to create images which feel both familiar, yet surreal. Drawing inspiration from the renowned sixteenth century Chinese novel Journey to the West, Ng has cast models solely from the vibrant community at Somerset House, inviting visitors and residents to become characters in a fragmented narrative through the hidden and public spaces of the building.
The exhibition also invites you to explore works from Moon and Ng’s fashion photography archive from the past four years, featuring work from leading publications such as Dazed, i-D, Modern Weekly, Centrefold, Re-Edition, M Le Magazine du Monde, Modern Matter, 1 Granary and David Casavant Archive Book.
Curated by Shonagh Marshall, the exhibition explores the artists’ feelings of being ‘lost in translation’, a feeling which, as artists living in a foreign city navigating different languages and shifting landscapes, informs Moon and Ng’s search for capturing beauty in the often overlooked and unseen narratives in our everyday lives.
Hanna Moon is an artist and photographer, born in South Korea, and based in London. She is the founder of A Nice Magazine.
Joyce Ng is a London-based fashion photographer who grew up in Hong Kong and graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2014.
Shonagh Marshall is an independent curator; her most recent project entitled Posturing explored the pose in contemporary fashion photography through exhibition, film commission by Coco Capitán and book. She curated major Somerset House exhibitions Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore!, Utopian Voices, Here and Now and Hair by Sam McKnight.
