Rebecca Moss’ practice explores an embodied and feminist relationship with landscape.
She draws on the idea of slapstick performance as subjectivity, transforming the way we relate to landscape as she emphasises a sense of reciprocity, that the landscape can act back upon us. We are not always in control. Rebecca’s work takes the form of site-responsive absurdist interventions that are documented as short videos. These can be thought of as precarious scenarios where an absurd idea is earnestly played out to a point of futility, chaos or crisis.
In Thick-Skinned (2019) we find Rebecca covered in a makeshift armour made of balloons intended to protect her as she climbs through a barbed wire fence in the countryside. In this tragi-comedic work we are never too sure if she’s breaking in, or out of the demarcated land. It’s hard not to wonder if the balloons do more to hinder than help – reminding us of the futile attempts we make to protect ourselves from the unstable and precarious world around us.
Rebecca Moss lives and works in Essex. She has exhibited widely, including The Beano, Somerset House, London (2021) Survey II (Jerwood Space touring 2021-2021) and will be showcasing her work at Fruitmarket, Edinburgh in 2023. She is also working towards a solo show at Focal Point Gallery this summer.
