Sam Hodge Every Contact Leaves A Trace

 

Sam Hodge Every Contact Leaves A Trace 1 - 11 June 2023 Private View: Saturday 3 June, 5-8pm 195 Mare Street | London E8 3QE   RSVP Hackney-based painter and printmaker Sam Hodge exhibits recent work in one of the neighbourhood's oldest houses. With a history spanning more than three centuries, a multitude of inhabitants have left their mark on the fabric of the building; made intentionally or incidentally, some obvious and exposed, many concealed. Taking its title from a founding principle of forensic science, Every Contact Leaves a Trace documents the artist's encounters with her environment. Parallels to geological or biological investigations are evident in Hodge's approach to the marks left by natural and manufactured events. The connection between human and material realms runs like an undercurrent through her practice. Whether making pigments and inks with earths, plants and human debris, printing from discarded materials or giving new meaning to found objects that have begun to disintegrate, Sam Hodge presents a compendium of tales told by matter. The old house adds its own chapter with layers of history embedded in the building's architectural patchwork. Its walls will frame works bearing traces of the Thames shore, the eroding coast of England, the artist's own recycling bin and 195 Mare Street itself.

Sam Hodge studied painting conservation at the Courtauld Institute of Art and Natural Sciences at Cambridge University. Both of inform her practice which is concerned with how things are made and how they fall apart. In her paintings she interacts with the dynamic, generative properties of paint, responding to the patterns that emerge over time.  Built in 1697 as a grand country house, 195 Mare Street is one of Hackney's oldest buildings. Home to the Elizabeth Fry Refuge from 1860-1913, the property housed thousands of young women recently released from prison. In the twentieth century, it became the New Lansdowne Working Men's Club. 195 Mare Street will soon be restored as a family home and community arts venue.