Open Session: Willow Hazell – The Dreaming

Joyful and absurd, this work-in-progress showing combines music by Ben Nobuto, hand painted sets and performance, inviting pleasure that never settles and laughter that arrives with a catch in the throat.

Emerging from the artists’ experience of chronic illness, The Dreaming brings to life the alternate realities Willow built as a means of survival. Performers are styled with the elegance of a fashion editorial, but their bodies are under pressure, their smiles are fake and their refinement is pushed until it begins to crack…

Willow Hazell is a multidisciplinary artist who makes vivid and emotional work that is inspired by discomfort, comedy and the natural world, aiming to create enveloping work for all kinds of people to love… or hate.  

Ben Nobuto is a British/Japanese composer, pianist and producer based in London, with a style described as “utterly contemporary” (Manchester Collective) and “sonically dazzling” (RPS Awards).