Lot 122 - Harriet Hammond - The Swan has Fallen

Clay, acrylic, and resin
2025
Original Artwork
COA
Curated by Moriah Ogunbiyi

About

Harriet Hammond (Hermit Gammon) has recently finished studying Fine Art at Central Saint Martins, London. Some recent group exhibitions include ‘Papillon’ at Daston Den, (2023) ‘OFFPRINT’ at the Tate Modern (2024) and ‘RIPOSTE dinner party rave’ at Electrowerkz (2024). She was also shortlisted for the Cass Art prize in 2024.

Harriet was born in, and lives in Gravesend, which provides her with a strong passion for the growing art community in the town. Harriet owns HYPERMEDIA events along with fellow Gravesend artist Joseph Cleary, and puts on monthly open performance events in Fourth Portal, Gravesend. These events include live music, experimental sound, visual performance, poetry, discussion etc, and bring a crowd of performers an audience from all over London and Kent.

Harriets’ work involves sculpture, performance and video, usually containing a spillage of bright colours, animals, food, bugs and made up characters to depict themes of surrealism, chaos, hierarchy, class, nostalgia, consumption and neurodivergence.

Education

2016-2018 Extended Diploma in Art and design, University for the Creative Arts, Rochester

2018-2021 Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art, University for the Creative Arts, Canterbury

2022-2024 Master of Arts in Fine Art, Central Saint Martins, London

Group Exhibitions

“Papillon”, Dalston Den, 2023

“RIPOSTE Dinner Part Rave”, Electrowerkz, 2024

“OFFPRINT”, Tate Modern, 2024

“The Regulars Variety Show”, The Ivy House 2024

“In Your Dreams”, Bath Artist Studios, 2024

“Filthy Fox Auction Club vol 3” Sarah Kravitz Gallery, 2024

“Lazy-Tasty Land”, Somers Gallery, 2025

“Bathroom Skin”, SET Lewisham, 2025

Statement about AOAP Submitted Artwork

This collection of three clay sculptures explores the dark themes of Milton’s Paradise Lost, reimagining the struggle between good and evil, and life and death, through symbolic, grotesque imagery. The first piece portrays a waterfall and trees decorated with skulls, representing the intersection of nature and mortality. The second features a black swan, embodying the tension between beauty and darkness, while the third shows a rotting apple infested with maggots, symbolizing corruption and temptation. Each sculpture is framed with a border made to resemble gums and pointed teeth, some of which have fallen out, representing the decay of time, loss of innocence and danger.

Finished with acrylic paint and resin, the sculptures have a wet, visceral appearance, amplifying their eerie and grotesque qualities to create a space where beauty and decay coexist.