Pandhal’s newly commissioned video work Ensorcelled English (13.40 mins) plays out both in the gallery and online as part of the exhibition SOLOS. It reveals the mechanics of a cursed art school, where inherited issues of racial and sexual representation emerge.

Written by Pandhal during lockdown, the two-part video features voice acting from his peers and close friends, rehearsed over webcam and recorded remotely. The first part, visualised as an animated storyboard drawn and arranged by Pandhal, revolves around delicate exchanges between an art student and an art lecturer. References are made to Richard Dyer’s book White (1997), with particular emphasis on Dyer’s reading of white femininity in the TV series The Jewel in the Crown (1984). The second part recalls an instructional lyric video comprising rap vocals delivered by Pandhal to a horrorcore beat composed with Glasgow based musician Joe Howe, alongside animations made in response by Nottingham-based graphic artist Stefan Sadler.

BIOGRAPHY

Hardeep Pandhal (b. 1985, Birmingham) lives and works in Glasgow. He received a Leverhulme Scholarship to complete the MFA programme at The Glasgow School of Art in 2013. Recent solo exhibitions include: Confessions of a Thug: Pakiveli, Tramway, Glasgow; Paranoid Picnic: The Phantom BAME, New Art Exchange and Primary, Nottingham (2018); Self-Loathing Flashmob, Kelvin Hall, Glasgow International 2018, Glasgow;  Liar Hydrant, Cubitt, London (2018). Recent group exhibitions include: Is This Tomorrow?, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2019); 2018 Triennial: Songs for Sabotage,  New Museum, New York (2018). He was shortlisted for the 2018 Film London Jarman Award.

CREDITS:
Animation: Hardeep Pandhal and Stefan Sadler
Sound: Joe Howe and Hardeep Pandhal
Main vocals: Hardeep Pandhal
Backing vocals: David Steans
Subtitles: Hardeep Pandhal and Valery Tough

Voice acting
John: David Steans
0.5FTE: Debbie Stone
VL: Hardeep Pandhal
Y2: Amanprit Sandhu

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