Marianna Simnett

Marianna Simnett (born 1986) is a Berlin-based multi-disciplinary artist who works with film, installation, drawing, and sculpture.

Early life and education Simnett studied at a musical theatre school as a teenager. She received a BA from Nottingham Trent University in 2007 and an MA from the Slade School of Art in 2013.

Themes Simnett's work examines the perception and imagination of the (human) body. Frequent themes include sickness and the intervention of medicine, violation, sexuality, identity, and metamorphosis.

Recurring motifs Botox figured in Blood In My Milk, The Needle and the Larynx, and Worst Gift. A recurring character Isabel, played by Isabel Maclaren, appears in The Udder and Blood. Syncope, or fainting, features prominently in Simnett's work, being central in Faint and Faint With Light. Simnett credits Bruce Nauman with getting her into moving-image work, and cites Derek Jarman as a "huge influence". Simnett has affinity to Mika Rottenberg.

Works

Faint (2012), recalls the story of Simnett's grandfather, who escaped death by firing squad by fainting. Blood (2015) recalls the history of Emma Eckstein and her treatment by Wilhelm Fliess. Dance, Stanley, Dance (2020) is a digitally animated watercolour inspired by found roadkill. The soundtrack was composed by Daniel Blumberg. Tito's Dog (2020) was created during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns, and confronts the artist's own identity whilst also continuing her investigation into interspecies relationships.

Exhibitions Simnett has had solo exhibitions at galleries including Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, Kunsthalle Zürich, and New Museum, New York. She has had group exhibitions at the Ming Contemporary Art Museum, Shanghai, and Serpentine Gallery in London.