A Song of Ascents

Published by The Hepworth Wakefield to accompany her major solo exhibition Louise Giovanelli: A Song of Ascents on view from 23 November 2024 - 21 April 2025. The book features an introduction by Director Simon Wallis accompanied by texts from Phoebe Cripps, Maire-Charlotte Carrie, Charlie fox and Helenskià Collett. 

A Song of Ascents takes its title from a series of religious Psalms traditionally recited by pilgrims on their journey to sacred sites. For Giovanelli, the idea of ‘ascent’ reflects our human desire to reach heightened states of consciousness—whether through spiritual devotion, sensuality and love, intoxicating substances, the thrill of performance, or even horror. This journey unfolds in her paintings as an uncanny fusion of emotions, where exaggerated expressions, richly layered textures, and intense, colour-saturated imagery evoke both ecstasy and unease.

The exhibition features ten newly commissioned paintings alongside nine existing works; many are inspired by scenes from films, while some of the most recent paintings are created from photographs the artist has taken in working men’s clubs and theatres across the UK. These venues, often distinguished by modest stages, worn velvet curtains, and a unique blend of everyday informality and staged theatrics, are transformed through Giovanelli’s hand into sites of communal performance and escape. She highlights elements such as the voluptuous curtains, sagging with gravity, glittering sequinned fabrics, and focused spotlights to elevate these familiar spaces, giving them a sense of holiness.

Giovanelli’s paintings invite us to meet at a threshold where reality and imagination converge—a space charged with ambiguity, where each scene teeters between the sacred and the unsettling.

Louise Giovanelli: A Song of Ascents is organised in collaboration with HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark where the exhibition will be presented in 2025.

Design: Rachel Oliver

Texts: Maire-Charlotte Carrier, Phoebe Cripps, Charlie Fox, Helenskià Collett and Louise Giovanelli

Publisher: The Hepworth Wakefield