Born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne (UK) in 1964, Lucy Gunning lives and works in London. Originally trained in sculpture, she took to film, video and performance during her time at London’s Goldsmiths College (1992–1994). Her first video works, made using a handheld camera and with minimal resources, focus on simple actions orchestrated by the artist. They subtly capture the emotional presence and physical engagement of subjects confronted with the lens of the camera, with the gaze of others, and with space and architecture.

In The Horse Impressionists, Gunning films five women – Lou Birks, Rachel Ind, Penelope McGhie, Tansy Edgerton and Marie – with whom she got in touch with through classified ads. Each one is seen doing her imitation of a horse. “I’d always been interested in the relationship between women and horses,” explains Gunning, “and as a child I spent a good many hours pretending to be a horse […] it was very important that it was important to them, that it was something that they actually did and had since childhood.” With their mixture of vocal performance and body languages that move between demonstration, humour and restraint, these portraits catch something of the inner person that eludes the norms of good behaviour traditionally associated with female stereotypes.

Julie Champion, 2020