Es Devlin’s large-scale choral installation, Congregation, opening in London tonight (3 October 2024), considers themes of displacement, personal bias and separation in an immersive celebration of the power of acoustemology (sound as a way of knowing). Devlin, who for the project has teamed with UK for UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency’s national charity partner, will be showcasing 50 portraits of Londoners who have been forcibly displaced from their home. The free and open-to-all exhibition at 18th-century church St Mary le Strand, curated by Wallpaper* contributing editor Ekow Eshun, is accompanied by choral music performed each evening outside the church.
For Devlin, who invited the subjects of her chalk and charcoal portraits to her home for their sittings, the experience was an emotional one.
