Still from: Unseen: The Lives of Looking (2015) Dryden Goodwin
Still from: Unseen: The Lives of Looking (2015) Dryden Goodwin
Still from: Unseen: The Lives of Looking (2015) Dryden Goodwin
Still from: Unseen: The Lives of Looking (2015) Dryden Goodwin
Still from: Unseen: The Lives of Looking (2015) Dryden Goodwin
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UK cinema première of artist Dryden Goodwin’s feature-length work: a profound essay about perception, identity and the creation of meaning, featuring the UK’s leading eye surgeon, planetary geologist and human rights solicitor.
Followed by a Q&A with the artist and Whitechapel Gallery Adjunct Film Curator Gareth Evans.
‘Unseen, The Lives of Looking’ (2015) focuses on four individuals who have extraordinary relationships to looking, mixing Goodwin’s closely observed drawings with live-action and an intricate soundtrack.
Featuring an eye surgeon, a NASA planetary explorer, a human rights lawyer and Goodwin himself, the film presents a variety of perspectives, ranging from the minute details of surgery to panoramic expanses of space. It considers the physical act of looking, the tools we use to perceive the world around us and how these relate to our identities.
“A film that channels a powerful sense of humanity. Enigmatic, sumptuously produced portraits that feel truer and more revealing than a biographical tome.” Apollo Magazine
‘Unseen, The Lives of Looking’ was supported by an Arts Award from the Wellcome Trust, alongside funding from Royal Museums Greenwich, Arts Council England and Red Bee Media.
Dryden Goodwin often combines drawing with photography and live-action video in his works, which can take the form of installations, short films, prints, online works and soundtracks.
He has exhibited at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, The Photographers’ Gallery and The National Portrait Gallery in London; Tate Liverpool in Merseyside and the Venice Biennale. His work is held in major collections including Tate and The National Portrait Gallery in London and The Museum of Modern Art in New York. His short films have been broadcast on Channel 4, MTV, RAI and SWR.
