Hetain Patel: Come As You Really Are

Description

A film showcase celebrating the creativity people bring to their spare time – from crafting and collecting to wild swimming and cosplay.

This UK-wide project by award-winning artist Hetain Patel, commissioned by Artangel, explores the country through the hobbies people love.

The focus of this project is a new film by Patel, blending high-end cinematic production with everyday scenes that highlight the joy and dedication found in pastimes often enjoyed quietly at home or with friends.

This project launched in January 2024 with a public call-out. People across the UK responded by sharing stories about their hobbies and why they matter. The project shows how people express themselves through what they make, collect, and do. Some began hobbies during lockdown; others have pursued them for decades, finding comfort, connection or a creative outlet. The film even features our very own model railway volunteers!

At the Museum of Making this film will be shown in the Warehouse – our top floor gallery space –  alongside a small display of hobbyists’ objects that feature in the film.

Hetain Patel is a London-based artist and filmmaker whose work challenges reductive categorisations of identity and art. Often rooted in personal experience and that of his immigrant family, Patel’s work invites us to see identity as multi-dimensional and complex, linked as much to what we choose to do, as to that which is assigned by birth, heritage, social norms, and conventions.

Patel’s films, sculptures, live performances, paintings and photographs have been shown worldwide in galleries, theatres and on iconic public screens, including Piccadilly Circus, London, and Times Square, New York. His works have been presented at the Venice Biennale, Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art, Beijing and in London at institutions including Tate Modern and Sadler’s Wells.

Patel’s works are in public and private collections in the UK and internationally, including Tate, British Council, Arts Council England, Government Art Collection, Manchester Art Gallery, M+ Museum Hong Kong, KNMA New Delhi, and Fondazione In Between Art Film, Rome.

The project is a partnership between Derby Museums; Tate St Ives, Cornwall; Factory International, Manchester; Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea; Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool; Museum of Making, Derby; National Festival of Making with Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery; Wolverhampton Art Gallery; Barnsley Civic; Inverness Museum and Art Gallery; Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland; CCA Derry~Londonderry; and Hospitalfield Arbroath.

Image: Hetain Patel, Come As You Really Are (film still, mini pottery), 2024. Courtesy of Artangel and the artist.