Exhibition Review: Susan Hiller | Rough Seas

@Susan Hiller. Roughly, By Night, 2015. Unique archival pigment prints,153.6 x 229.2 x 2.5 cm, 60 1/2 x 90 1/4 x 1 in. © Estate of Susan Hiller. Courtesy Lisson Gallery

Written by Sophie Mulgrew

Photos Edited by Billy Chen

Copy Edited by Robyn Hager

When artist Susan Hiller moved from the US to the UK in the late 1960’s, she was particularly struck by one thing: postcards. This interest began when Hiller visited a small seaside town and discovered for the first time a “rough seas” postcard depicting the ocean amidst a storm. Hiller was captivated by the image and began collecting similar ones throughout the country. She saw them as a kind of collective natural portrait; stories of the earth and its inhabitants contained in petite squares. She soon began incorporating the postcards into her own artistic practice, producing a variety of work including Dedicated to the Unknown Artists, which would become one of the defining works of the British Conceptual Art period. 

@Susan Hiller. Storm Scenes, 1989, Unique C-type prints, mixed media, 111 x 241.5 x 2.5 cm, 43 3/4 x 95 1/8 x 1 in. © Estate of Susan Hiller. Courtesy Lisson Gallery

Now, four years after Hiller’s death in 2019, a collection of the artist’s postcard inspired work is being shown at the Lisson Gallery in Manhattan. The exhibition showcases a variety of Hiller’s work surrounding the rough seas images and theme. It is simple yet comprehensive, quietly moving yet vibrant and exciting. The variety showcases the different techniques used by Hiller to modify and enhance the postcard images. In the earlier pieces, the images are enlarged and arranged in various grid-patterns, sometimes accompanied by a map of segments of text. In later works, the pictures are colorized in abstract fashions both by hand and through digital rendering. 

@Susan Hiller. On the Edge, 2015, Postcards, archival print. 15 frames each: 77.5 x 107.3 x 3.2 cm, 15 frames each: 30 1/2 x 42 1/4 x 1 1/4 in. © Estate of Susan Hiller. Courtesy Lisson Gallery

@Susan Hiller. On the Edge, Deatil 4, 2015, Postcards, archival print. 15 frames each: 77.5 x 107.3 x 3.2 cm, 15 frames each: 30 1/2 x 42 1/4 x 1 1/4 in. © Estate of Susan Hiller. Courtesy Lisson Gallery

The result is an exhibition that is decidedly streamlined– the subject of each work is the same– but also technically diverse. Each piece is rendered in its own distinct style and emotive quality. Each individual work contains multiple postcards, arranged in a grid-like manner. The proximity of the images forces the viewer to consider them in relation to one another. From a distance, one piece might look like a single shot of a roiled ocean, but on closer inspection, the distinction between each individual image becomes clear. The pieces question the relationship the sea has with itself. The ocean is connected throughout the globe, and yet separated by different titles and national delinations. It appears different depending on the weather, shoreline, time of day, and season. The multiplicity of the water’s representation seems to suggest that we, like the sea, are dynamic and tumultuous beings. We shift with the weather of our lives and the location of our shores. There is a deep humanity to Hillers work – a suggestion of shared beauty and essence.

@Susan Hiller. Rough Moonlit Nights, 2015, Unique archival pigment prints. 152.4 x 228.9 x 2.5 cm, 60 x 90 1/8 x 1 in. © Estate of Susan Hiller. Courtesy Lisson Gallery

At the same time, there is also the presence of fear. “Rough seas” are inherently dangerous and can wreak havoc for those who encounter them. In Hiller’s work, the audience is allowed to wrestle with the power of the sea from a distance. They are intrigued by its beauty yet aware of its violence. This dichotomy gestures towards the sublime – something that has interested and defined artists for many generations. Hiller’s emphasis on the consuming nature and possibility of the ocean is particularly topical amidst current issues of climate change. The Lisson Gallery’s exhibition asks viewers to consider their own relationship to the ocean, and by extension the earth. It is a question that we should all be thinking about.

@Susan Hiller. Going Under, 2015. Unique archival pigment prints. 153 x 306 x 2 cm, 60 1/4 x 120 1/2 x 0 3/4 in. © Estate of Susan Hiller. Courtesy Lisson Gallery