Charlotte Prodger: BRIDGIT

Charlotte Prodger is a queer British artist who works within a range of media, including video, photography, creative writing and sculpture.  Her work explores queer gender identity, situating it within the themes of landscape, language, technology, and time.

Prodger’s work with moving images, BRIDGIT/Stoneymollan Trail won her the Turner Prize in 2018. The work, exhibited at her solo exhibition in  Bergen Kunsthall in 2017 consisted of two videos that she created using an iPhone.  Tate Britain described her use of this device as “a prosthesis or extension of the nervous system, intimately connected to time, social interaction and work.” (Tate 2018)

Prodger had been working with the moving image for over two decades, originally using 16mm film before she investigated digital media. Her interest in iPhonography includes the tactile nature of the device and its inherent limitations, in terms of image and sound quality.

Portrait of Charlotte Prodger Photography © Emile Holba 2018

Prodger created the original sequences in 2016, shortly after elective hysterectomy surgery, and throughout her recovery. She does not make direct reference to the details of the surgery in the video, but the themes of self and identity run throughout (Leaver-Yap, 2017).

BRIDGIT was titled after a Neolithic goddess whose name has been cited over several regions throughout history, with varying pronunciations. Stoneymollan Trail is named after an ancient ‘coffin road’ or burial road, on the west coast of Scotland. Prodger narrates the videos using both her voice and that of friends. The narration is not directly linked to the video but conveys her story over moving images of the Scottish countryside. The Turner Prize judges considered her approach “incredibly impressive in the way that it dealt with lived experience, the formation of a sense of self through disparate references.” (Tate 2018) I found the separation of moving image and narration hypnotic, the slowly evolving scenes affording a calming influence whilst the subconscious is captivated by the reading.

BROWN, M., 2018. iPhone film-maker Charlotte Prodger wins 2018 Turner prize [Viewed 15/10/2014]. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/dec/04/iphone-film-maker-charlotte-prodger-wins-2018-turner-prize

TATE, 2018. Charlotte Prodger [Viewed 15/10/2014]. Available from: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/turner-prize-2018/charlotte-prodger

LEAVER-YAP, M., 2017. Aesthetics and Anaesthetics in Charlotte Prodgers BRIDGIT. [viewed 15/10/2024]. Available from: https://hollybushgardens.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/CP_Mason-Leaver-Yap_Aesthetics-and-Anaesthetics.pdf